Sickness And Love
by Jewel1001
Summary: Jaden and Aster move to London just as the plague begins to take hold of the city. In London, Jaden meets a certain bluenette. But will the two be safe? Warning: Character Death
1. Prologue

Hazeru - New fic, I'm on a roll!

Hera - And this one's called Sickness And Love.

Hazeru - It's almost like historical fiction, but based on a really great book I read.

Hera - The book's called _At The Sign Of The Sugared Plum_, for those who might want to look it up or read it.

Hazeru - It's a great book. And it gave me this idea! Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! GX or At The Sign Of The Sugared Plum

Prologue

Arrival

The two youths waved their goodbyes to the cart that dropped them off as close to the bridge into London as it could get them. To tell the truth, the younger of the two was glad to get away from the stupid cart - the old farmer they'd travelled with talked non-stop about everything and nothing.

"You boys sure you want to be stopping in London now?" he said, concerned.

The two innocent boys from the country, one eighteen and the other sixteen, looked up at the farmer questioningly. In an answer, the farmer sighed.

"Thought you'd want to keep away at this time."

"Oh no, we've been desperate to get here for so long!" the younger of the two said enthusiastically. "Why wouldn't we want to be here?"

"I guess you'll find out yourselves."

The farmer and his rickety old guard trundled off in the opposite direction, leaving the two males to look at each other in confusion.

"What did he mean by that?" the younger wondered aloud.

He was quite a small boy with a face that made him appear somewhat younger than he actually was. He wore white on the bottom half of his body, like everyone else did, and red, as was his custom - he didn't know what the current fashion was and didn't really care; red was his colour - and he was a two-toned brunette. The patch of hair on the top of his head was closer to orange, really, but hey, what did he care? Being sixteen and a male teenager, the boy hadn't a care in the world. His bright chocolate eyes scanned the crowds that rioted the bridge.

"Oh well, it probably wasn't important, anyway" he said, shrugging it off, and grabbing his cousin by the arm - clever considering the amount of luggage they each carried. "Come on, Aster, we have to get going!"

"Slow down!" his cousin called, racing after the brunette as he ran towards the bridge.

The brunette's cousin looked nothing like him. The elder of the two boys, Aster, had silver hair and bright blue eyes, and he dressed in complete white - hardly fashionable, not like he cared anyway. He was two years older than his cousin and more mature by decades, if it was possible.

The two boys, fair excited out of their wits to finally have reached London, rushed across the bridge and towards the small bakery which was now theirs.

"Is this it?" the brunette asked puzzled, as he stared at the small shop.

There was no glass in the window and, on going inside, they discovered that there was only the front room where baked goods were to be made and sold, and a small living area in the back of the shop. It wasn't exactly what his recently deceased uncle had made it out to be, but oh well.

"If Uncle Haou was still alive, I'd kick his ass for lying" Jaden, the brunette, muttered softly.

"Jaden, watch your language. There'll be ladies in the shop soon - you can't curse in front of them. It's not right!"

Jaden laughed at his cousin's good manners. The two had been brought up in the country all their lives and had been taught good manners, but Jaden normally chose to forget his. It wasn't as if London was exactly known for its good manners, either, so why should he be so bothered by his lack of them? Besides, Aster had enough manners for the both of them. If he was so worried about the opinions of the lady folk, he could deal with them.

Jaden Yuki was the younger cousin of Aster Phoenix. Their Uncle Haou had recently died in a fire, not from this bakery which he had owned and loved, but from one on the other side of the city. On hearing the news, Jaden and Aster had pledged to go to their uncle's bakery - for Haou had never produced any children himself - and take over it for him. The two were disappointed with the shop's grimy appearance but were willing to overlook that and work as hard as they could - well, on that last part, Aster was willing to work hard. Jaden was a slacker but would have fun messing around baking the sweet treats they'd sell. And hell, Aster could use the help. He'd never had a business before, being only eighteen. Besides, Jaden was young and innocent and funny. It could be fun.

The two immediately set to finding out what they had to buy, clean, tidy and generally fix up the shop. One day, when they had the money - being poor farmers from the country, money was something they'd never had much of, but if they made a success of their business, they could have as much as the rich did - they would buy a bigger shop and run the best bakery in all of London. How many were there to compete with? Lots. It was 1665 and bakeries were all over the capital of England. But Aster was competitive and Jaden was confident. They could do it easily.

After only a few hours, there was a knock on the door. The two cousins looked at each other in confusion, for the shop was closed and nothing was made, but opened the door nonetheless.

Standing there was a young man dressed all in yellow, with slightly dark skin and black hair which stuck out in braids around his head. He passed the two a bottle of wine and flashed them a grin.

"Hey, there. I'm Hasselberry" he said, waving his arm in their faces. "I work in the sweet shop in the next alley. Welcome to the neighbourhood, friends!"

"Hi, thanks for the wine" Jaden grinned. "I'm Jaden Yuki, and this is my cousin, Aster Phoenix."

"Pleased to meet you, Hasselberry" Aster said in a bored voice.

"You, too" Hasselberry said in a friendly way. Then his face fell. "Hey, it might be none of my business, but why are you boys just setting up shop now?"

"Huh?"

"Thought you'd have wanted to wait until all the trouble's over."

Okay, now the cousins were severely confused.

"What do you mean by that?" Aster questioned.

"Well, it's just … surely you know?" Hasselberry struggled.

"Know about what?" Jaden asked innocently.

"About … about the plague" Hasselberry whispered, shuddering when he said the last word, as if he feared the plague was right behind him. "The plague is taking hold of London, boys."

Aster rose one eyebrow and Jaden laughed openly. Hasselberry almost fell back in surprise at the reactions.

"Well, that explains the farmer on the cart" Aster muttered.

"It's only plague" Jaden said, still grinning like a fool. "It's not here is it? Like, right here?"

"Well, no. It's not in this neighbourhood. But in nearby neighbourhoods other houses have been shut up…"

"Shut up?"

"See, if somebody in a house gets the plague, they and their family get locked up in their house for forty days" Hasselberry said, his voice low and his face pained.

"So there! It's all shut up, so there's no need to worry!" Jaden laughed.

He was sixteen. He was happy.

He had all his life still in front of him.

There was no way he could die.

Hera - So it's set in the past?

Hazeru - Yep, in 1665, in London. They're British in this, just to clear things up, but for some reason I imagine them still having their normal accents.

Hera - Okay. Well, hope you liked this, more coming soon, hopefully.

Hazeru - As soon as I have the time :)

Hera - R&R, please


	2. Chapter 1  Bakery

Hazeru - We'll meet some new characters in this chapter.

Hera - Mostly Jaden's new neighbours.

Hazeru - Hope you enjoy the story!

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! GX or At The Sign Of The Sugared Plum

Chapter 1

Bakery

During the week that followed, Jaden and Aster got the shop running. They baked fine breads and cakes and buns. Aster did the skilled work - he'd been taught by Uncle Haou, as he'd had the patience to learn - and Jaden did all the decorating and presentation necessary to lure people into the shop.

Over the week, he'd gotten to know some of his new neighbours. Aster preferred not to talk to people and to work away inside, but Jaden liked the company of the people around him and began to seek out their company on a daily basis. As well as the kindly Hasselberry, Jaden had become friends with two of his other neighbours whom he saw daily - a very tall man with black hair and a bandage over one eye, named Jim Cook, and a shorter man with grey hair named Bastian Misawa. Jim was married with two young daughters and Bastian was married with one son. Jaden hadn't meet either of their families but had quickly become friends with the two men.

Business got steadily better over the week as kindly neighbours and satisfied customers spread the good word of the bakery. As business got better, so did Aster's mood, and he gradually began to be kinder to the people around him. He served customers politely and spoke with a few neighbours. He even let Jaden assist him in some of the skilled work and serve some of the customers - although he didn't dare let his cousin deal with the ladies who came into the shop. Not that Jaden would've put them at any threat or had any desire for them.

Aster was the only one that knew that Jaden wasn't exactly into women. In that year, 1665, it was considered improper and a disgrace to have interests in a person of the same sex, and so Jaden dared not to tell anyone his secret. He hadn't told his own parents or the rest of his family. Only his cousin, who he trusted to keep that secret, because Aster had a few of his own that he didn't want anyone else to find out - secrets that had fallen into Jaden's hands one night when Aster got drunk enough to tell his secrets to his boisterous little cousin.

"Hey, mate" Jim said as he walked through the open shop door.

"Hi, Jim" Jaden greeted, as he weighed out a good amount of sugar to go into a quantity of little cakes. The dough for those was being formed at that moment by his cousin. "Hey, Aster, that almost ready for the sugar?"

"Concentrate on your work, Jaden, and let me concentrate on mine" Aster snapped, winking at his cousin to show he was joking. He took the sugar from Jaden and gestured to Jim. "Serve our neighbour what he wants, Jay."

"Yeah, yeah." Jaden didn't exactly like that Aster was in charge, but what could he do about it? "So, Jim, what's going on?" He was also kind of pissed that Aster hadn't let him venture further than the well at the end of the lane to get water yet. He longed to see the shops and meet new people. "What am I not getting to see?"

"The world, mate" Jim laughed, grinning sympathetically at Jaden. It was well known in the neighbourhood after about five days that Aster was going to made a success out of the business by working hard, long hours and that he expected Jaden to do the same. Out of sheer good will, the brunette didn't complain. "When you get let off your leash, you have to go see the clothes they've got in the little tailors in the lane by The Duck And Goose. The father of the Princeton family just died and he left it to his youngest son - he's turned it into a fashionista heaven!"

"Sweet! I gotta see this!" Jaden grinned, then he sighed. "Some day."

"Princeton's even got this whole line of red clothes" Jim said, knowing it would interest the brunette. "Weird thing, that, 'cause Princeton only ever wears black. He's a strange one and a grumpy sow to boot, but I think you'd get on okay with him."

"I can't wait!" Jaden grinned, and he meant it.

Hera - They're a bit OOC in this fic.

Hazeru - Yeah, I know. Different times, though, so it fits.

Hera - If you say so. Anyway, please R&R


	3. Chapter 2  Meeting

Hazeru - Here's another chapter.

Hera - Some more characters, too.

Hazeru - Including you-know-who!

Hera - Spoilsport. Anyway, enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! GX or At The Sign Of The Sugared Plum

Chapter 2

Meeting

It was another two weeks before Aster finally gave Jaden - who'd been placed by his mother in Aster's care for their time in London - permission to leave the bakery to pay a visit to the tailor's shop. The Bills Of Mortality, which showed the numbers who died of what in each week, were showing a steady increase in plague deaths. Aster was beginning to fear the sickness although it didn't seem to have a hold on any of their neighbours, but Jaden was as carefree as ever and seemed not to notice the rising of the deaths. He saw no corpses in the streets or madmen, only a few gypsies proclaiming that the end was nigh - and didn't they all say that to get money? Jaden was certain that everything would be well in the end.

As he turned the various corners and hurried down the lanes, his attitude wasn't at all changed, for he saw no enclosed houses nearby. There weren't dead bodies lying in the streets as he'd fearfully imagined the previous night - it had been a night for nightmares, and he'd have several - and nobody seemed greatly scared either. What a fuss over nothing!

Jaden went the wrong way five times before he eventually turned into the right alleyway and passed many shops, some of which interested him and some of which didn't, until he eventually reached a tiny hole in the wall. It had a sign that read _Princeton Tailor's _and immediately Jaden knew that this was a family with pride in themselves. He almost decided not to bother with it, but the thought of all those red clothes that Jim had been talking about won him over and he walked through the archway into the little shop, which somehow seemed bigger on the inside.

There were rows of shelves with each shelf piled high with bundles of cloth and materials, or needles and thread or buttons, or other materials precious to tailors. Jaden couldn't see any actual clothes, but he noticed an open archway and realised there was probably another room back there in which the clothes were kept to stop them from being stolen. He coughed loudly and suddenly a small pale face peeked out from the archway, glaring at him.

"Keep it down" the black haired male growled.

"Sorry, just wondering where you'd got to" Jaden laughed sheepishly, grinning at the glaring male, unfazed. "It's your shop, right, pal?"

"The name's Chazz Princeton!" the man said indignantly.

"And mine's Jaden Yuki!" Jaden laughed, ignoring the cold glare the man sent him, and said "so how come you've got to be so quiet in here?"

Jaden was rather used to his shop, which was always noisy with talking and laughter - thanks to him and much to Aster's annoyance.

"You're disturbing my customers!" Chazz growled.

Here, Jaden heard kind laughter from inside the room - a man's voice, he was certain - and then another figure came into view. But this figure was very, very different from the irritated Princeton in he stood beside.

This man wore black and white, with a short blue vest over his white shirt, and he grinned at Jaden - Jaden was glad that not everyone in London got so grumpy over a little noise. This man had spiky blue hair that Jaden almost laughed at because he found it so cute, but that was before he fell under the spell of the man's eyes - which were a strange, stunning shade of green that he'd never seen on a person before.

Jaden, slightly awed, smiled back at the man.

"Hey, there! You work here, too?" he asked pleasantly.

The young man laughed, not unkindly.

"Nah, I don't have the skills for this sort of thing" he said with a smile. "I work Mapleside Manor, a while from here."

"Mapleside Manor?" Jaden gasped.

He'd heard of it - everyone had heard of it! It was a grand mansion house towards the west of the city, and was home to persons of quality (the very rich and titled) but not just any type of person! Lord and Lady Truesdale! Everyone knew of them: Lord Truesdale was a close friend of the King's, and his younger brother was friends with one of the king's bastard children. Everybody knew the wealthy family.

"Heh, I guess you've heard of it then" the young man grinned, noticing the familiar stunned look on Jaden's face. "Guess everyone has."

Jaden, beginning to get over the shock, looked more closely at this young man. He had a strange, completely unfamiliar feeling and he didn't have a clue what it was. He felt so nervous but also completely comfortable.

"Guess so" Jaden smiled, over the shock completely. "So, what do you do there?"

"I'm a gentleman of the wardrobe to Lord Truesdale" the young man grinned. "He's got several, but I'm in charge of the rest of them. I've worked with him for a few years now."

"Is he a good master?" Jaden asked, knowing that the titled people could often be hard and cruel with their servants.

"He is" the young man reassured him. "We get on fairly well, considering."

"That's great" Jaden grinned.

"Are you in service at one of the big houses, too?"

"No. I work in a bakery near here."

"That sounds better than what I do" the man laughed, and here he turned away from Jaden to look back at Chazz Princeton - who, Jaden noticed, was getting more irritated by the minute - and smiled simply at him. "So, can you have all that ready by next Monday, Chazz?"

First name terms? They must know each other well.

"Sure can" Chazz grumbled. "I _am _The Chazz, after all."

Here the young man rolled his eyes, seemingly having heard it all before.

"Yeah, yeah, so you keep telling me" he laughed, and then glanced back at a confused Jaden, and laughed again. "First time here?"

Jaden nodded, surprised, and muttered "how did you know that?"

"You didn't react to the whole 'The Chazz' thing. Everyone who knows this idiot does" he smiled, gesturing to the man in black next to him. Chazz glared and then walked into the back of the shop. The blue haired man laughed quietly and grinned at Jaden. "What's your name, partner?"

For the first time, Jaden noticed that this young man had a strange accent. Weird. But he smiled and offered him a hand nonetheless.

"Jaden Yuki" he said, shaking the man's hand. "And yours?"

"Jesse Andersen" he answered.

Jaden could do nothing but smile.

"Well, I have to get going" Jesse grinned, letting go of Jaden's hand - damn it - and walking towards the exit. "See you around."

"See you" Jaden called after him.

His heart was beating really fast and so loud that he didn't hear Chazz come up beside him and start speaking until the cold gray eyes were right in front of his own.

"Hey, can I help you or not?" he muttered. He didn't like this customer much but he'd have to go with it. Being the son of the becoming-rich tailor, he had to keep the Princeton name a good one.

Jaden shook his head violently to clear his mind and then smiled at Chazz.

"Eh … yeah, I was wondering if you had anything in red?"

"Come through to the back" Chazz muttered, his eyes seeming to catch light from somewhere. Jaden grinned. Had Jim not said that Chazz was fair proud of his new line of red clothing?

There were jackets and boots and shirts and waistcoats and tights and dresses and aprons and gloves and every other piece of clothing that you could name in the back of the shop - and there was a whole shelf that was filled with varying shades of red clothing. Jaden plucked several jackets and shirts from the pile - causing it to topple over and nearly crush Chazz - and admired them each in turn. Chazz glared and began to stitch some complicated waistcoat pattern that was yellow in colour.

Eventually, after much irritation of Chazz and trying on whatever he could at record speed, Jaden decided on a bright red jacket edged with black, and paid for it using some of the money he'd gained from working at the bakery.

To Chazz's great delight, the brunette was finally gone.

"What are you wearing?" Aster laughed at his cousin.

"Red" Jaden muttered, sticking his tongue out at Aster. "It's in fashion now."

"Since when did you care?"

"Since my favourite colour came to fashion" the brunette grinned.

Aster shook his head, annoyed.

"How can you care about what you look like when there are people dying?" he burst out, gesturing to the world beyond the shop. "There are people dying of plague and you're worrying about the colour of your jacket! How much did you pay for that? Just like you Jaden; act first, think later."

Jaden sighed but smiled at his cousin, unfazed by the outburst of anger.

"I saw no enclosed houses. I saw no dead people. Everyone else seemed happy." Just as Aster was about to erupt, Jaden continued. "And I met the nicest guy at the tailor's."

"Nicest _guy_, huh?" Aster grinned, having forgotten his anger in favour of teasing his little cousin. "Nice _how_?"

"He was really nice to me. I didn't mean it like that!" Jaden blushed, realising what Aster was getting at. "But I must admit … his eyes were beautiful."

"His face?"

"The most handsome I've ever seen."

"Heh, so a good trip out?"

Jaden blushed violently and set to kneading out some dough, ignoring his cousin. When he was sure Aster had lost interest in him, he dared to smile.

"It was when I met Jesse" he whispered in answer, knowing full well that Aster wouldn't be able to hear him.

Hazeru - Yay, Jesse's in the story!

Hera - R&R please

Hazeru - :)


	4. Chapter 3  The Bills Of Mortality

Hazeru - Here's the new chapter.

Hera - Another chapter already?

Hazeru - Well, I've already had three reviews, and I love reviews. They're so helpful :) So I'm dedicating this chapter to _PrincessAnime08_.

Hera - Thanks for your reviews, it means a lot.

Hazeru - And now, on with the story! :)

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! GX or At The Sign Of The Sugared Plum

Chapter 3

The Bills Of Mortality

"You _idiot_!"

Aster dropped the coal-black loaf on the floor and then pulled out a rough brush and water. He threw half the water onto the cooking counter and shoved the brush into his careless cousin's hand, glaring at him threateningly.

"That's the third one today!" he growled. "Get the counter cleaned up _now_!"

"It's not like I meant to burn it…"

"I don't _care_, Jaden. You did burn it and that's all that I care about. Just get that cleaned and then go out and play or something. Leave the one who does all the work around here to do yet _more _work!"

Aster stomped over to another counter and began violently kneading dough, so that it looked more like he was punching it. Jaden flinched slightly at his cousin's anger and scrubbed unenthusiastically at the blackened counter. Aster could be such a moan when he got unhappy, and right now he was.

Jaden didn't get it. Aster was worried but he was as focused as ever - while he was worried and so had burned three loaves of bread, given two customers more change than he'd had to and noticed only once they'd left, and spilled water all over the floor of their shared room at the back and been sent out to the water well to collect more. What was wrong with him?

Oh yeah, that's it.

Jesse Andersen.

Ever since he'd met him three weeks ago, he couldn't get the blue haired male out of his head. Jesse was in his thoughts during the day and in his dreams at night. He didn't want to think about him any more. He was sure a guy like that was respectably into women and probably had a girlfriend that he planned to marry. Either that or he had a fondness for whores, like someone else Jaden could mention.

While Jaden had been thinking longingly about the bluenette, Aster had been visiting nearby whorehouses and paying money for things that Jaden didn't want to know about. Aster had said that he had to have his fun while it was still possible - and indeed Jaden knew what he meant.

The previous week they'd heard the big news that had terrified them - the King and his court were leaving London because of the plague. Their departure signalled the start of the plague, and the knowledge that they were gone caused many of the titled or rich people in London to start leaving, too. Everyone who could get out of the city was thinking about journeys and suchlike. Many rich people had houses in the country, where they were going to stay until the threat of plague was gone.

It was being said that Certificates Of Health - which had to be signed by the Lord Mayor of London and were very difficult to get - had to be obtained if a person wished to leave the city. If a person had no Certificate Of Health, the guards at the gates into London would not allow them to leave and would make them turn back and return to the city.

Not just that, but no matter where Jaden went now, he was seeing the signs that the plague had begun for true.

There were fewer people of quality than there had been two weeks ago, and most alleys and lanes had a house or two that had been shut up and the people inside locked up for forty days, because someone in that house had the plague. The church graveyards were beginning to swell from the amount of bodies, and funerals never ceased. In some parts of the city, the cousins had heard, bodies were collected on a cart - the Death Cart, it was named - in the night, and were thrown into the graveyards with no care, and that corpses no longer had a grave to themselves but had to share with others.

London was becoming a very scary and dangerous place to be, and Aster was mighty sorry that they'd come.

Jaden, however, found it exciting to be so close to such a large amount of danger - he couldn't believe it! He'd never been in danger before so it was all a new, exciting experience for him. His month or so in London hadn't been at all pleasant, but there was one thing that kept him from being sorry he'd came, and it wasn't the thrill of being in the dangerous city. It was, of course, his daydream bluenette.

Aster and Jaden glanced at each other nervously as they approached the recently posted Bills Of Mortality. Aster blocked it from Jaden's view as he read it, and then he turned and grabbed his cousin's arm, hurrying him away from the crowd.

"What? Why'd you do that?" Jaden moaned unhappily. "I didn't get to read it!"

"It said almost two thousand!"

"Two thousand?" Jaden gasped, feeling his body suddenly go cold.

"And almost five hundred dead of 'other causes' which could mean people are paying to have their family members deaths recorded as fever or suchlike, so that the plague name isn't on the family and the rest of them aren't shut up!"

For the first time, the brunette was afraid. Truly, terribly afraid. Two thousand deaths in a week! The plague … it was so close. It could have killed people that he might have known otherwise!

Unable to speak, Jaden turned and fled, leaving Aster to make his way back to their shop alone.

Jaden tore through random alleys and lanes, unwilling to believe it. Two thousand! He was aware that he'd run into a richer part of town and was almost relieved that he saw no enclosed houses - but he wasn't rich, it could get him! And Aster! Hell, the plague could get anyone that it wanted. No-one was immune, and there were so many cures prescribed by so many doctors that nobody knew what to take. None of them were sure to work and people were sometimes found dead clutching whatever trinket or medicine they'd hoped would save them.

Jaden kept running full speed until he slammed into another person, knocking both of them to the ground.

"Ouch …" Jaden grunted, and then gasped. "Hey, I'm sorry, I wasn't looking where I was going …"

But he stopped talking, because the other person - the one he'd knocked down - was presently getting to his feet and offering Jaden his hand. Jaden grinned with true happiness as he took his hand and got to his feet.

"Thanks, Jesse" he grinned. "Sorry about that."

"No problem, Jaden" he said simply.

_So he remembers me_, Jaden thought.

"So what were you running from, exactly?" Jesse asked, curious. "You were going at some speed there."

"Yeah, I'm a fast runner." Jaden sighed sadly. "I just read the Bills Of Mortality. Have you … have you read them?"

"Yeah. Two thousand, huh?"

"Do you think it's true?"

"It's sure to be" Jesse muttered, somewhat sadly. "The authorities won't lie about the plague deaths in that way. They might say less have died than actually have, but they'll never say more are dead. It would look bad on them."

Jaden didn't reply, for he'd glanced away from Jesse's green eyes to look at his surroundings properly and had noticed that they stood in front of the largest, grandest house he'd ever laid eyes on. It was five stories high and very wide, a magnificent white building with blue and gold around the edges, and a huge amount of grassy area - what a garden that would be - surrounding the house. It included its own water well, which explained why Jaden had never once seen Jesse getting water for the house - or any servants that he knew to be from Mapleside Manor, and he knew now more than one. Several had come in at one time or another to his bakery shop and every one of them had, in an off-hand manner, said they worked in that house. It was probably even more stunning inside than out.

"Eh, Jaden? What are you staring at?"

"The house…" Jaden said, still in awe of the grand building. "Do you _live _in there?"

"Only as a servant, Jay" Jesse laughed. "Our living quarters are quite simple, really. The actual house is amazing, though. You've never seen so many expensive things that nobody actually uses in your life!"

"I guess not."

"Hey, Jaden? Nobody's actually in right now, except the mistress and she's stuck in bed sick" Jesse said, winking at the brunette, who blushed. "Want to come in and see some of the house?"

"Go into Mapleside Manor?" Jaden gasped. "But … what about your master and mistress? Won't they get angry with you?"

"Nah, they won't know. The other servants are all off somewhere else, it's basically a day off for everyone. The master's gone out with his brother and the mistress is very ill so she can't get out of bed."

"When you say ill, Jess, do you mean that she's…that she's got plague?" Jaden asked fearfully, his body cold and the words tasting of ash. If Jesse became shut up in a house of plague …

But Jesse only laughed.

"It's not plague. Plague would've taken her by now. She's been ill for three months."

"What is it that ails her?" Jaden asked, somewhat relieved.

"Childbed fever. She had a baby three months ago and she's not been the same ever since." Jesse shrugged. "She's very pretty, though."

"Your mistress?"

"What? No, I couldn't ever see her like that" Jesse laughed. "She's an attractive woman, no doubt, but I don't look at women like that." He paused, having realised what he'd basically admitted and then shrugged. "No, I meant the baby. She's called Victoria, but I always call her Vicky. She's the spit of her mother, but very pretty for a three month old."

Jaden ignored the 'I don't look at women like that' comment and continued to talk about the Truesdale family, seeing it as his best way to get to know Jesse.

"So how many are in the Truesdale family?"

"You've heard all about their wealth, then?"

"Yeah" Jaden said softly. Everyone knew.

"Well, there's Lord Zane Truesdale and his wife Lady Alexis Truesdale, and they're my employers. The master has a brother, too - Syrus Truesdale, I think his name is, though he's rarely here. And of course, there's the master and mistress' two daughters, Louisa and Vicky."

"And do you see them all?"

"Mainly the master, because he's who I run errands for concerning the wardrobe and all that" Jesse said, shrugging his shoulders again. "The mistress is attended by a maid usually. A good friend of mine, actually. Blair."

"Blair?"

"She's the mistress' personal maid. We're good friends. Blair looks after the mistress when she is sick and otherwise she looks after the children. Each child has their own nursery maid, but because Vicky is so young and because of the plague, they've not got a maid for her yet." Jesse smiled slightly. "Blair and I take turns looking after her, though, so it's all good."

"You take care of a baby?"

Jesse laughed at his friend's expression.

"Sure do. I know, it's generally a woman's job, but times are hard with the plague."

Jaden couldn't help but laugh with him.

"It's weird, Jess" he said suddenly. "I've only met you once before and yet … I feel like I've known you all my life."

He blushed, realising how it must have sounded.

"I know. It's the same for me" Jesse said quietly, his eyes looking away from Jaden. Then they looked back and he smiled. "But come on, let's go inside. I'll show you some of the house. And the baby, if you want."

Jaden wanted nothing more.

Hazeru - I kind see Jesse looking after a baby, he'd be so good at it!

Hera - And he's taking Jaden into the house. Will something bad happen?

Hazeru - I don't know ... yet. :)

Hera - Anyway, R&R, please


	5. Chapter 4  Mapleside Manor

Hazeru - He's going into Mapleside Manor in this chapter.

Hera - Mapleside Manor's owned by Zane and Alexis. Bit of Royalshipping, Hazeru?

Hazeru - I'm not a huge fan, but it fit this story.

Hera - Enjoy the chapter!

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! GX or At The Sign Of The Sugared Plum

Chapter 4

Mapleside Manor

The room they walked into was huge and painted purple, with a thick carpet under their feet. Jaden had never been in such a house before in his life, and found it all terribly exciting. He dashed around from place to place in the room, racing at the speed of light but at the same time being careful - he knew that Jesse would be in a lot of trouble if he brought someone into the house and that someone broke something valuable. And there were a _lot _of valuables in the house.

There were vast golden mirrors hanging on the walls and portraits of elegant looking people that seemed to watch you no matter where in the room you went. It was a grand house, indeed the grandest Jaden had ever seen - he'd never known that a house could have such things inside its walls. It seemed too amazing to be a place made only for people to live in. _Lord and Lady Truesdale must be monstrous rich_, he thought.

"It's amazing!" he called, dashing all around, while Jesse followed him, laughing. "You get to live here all the time? Maybe I should get an in-service job! This place is huge. I didn't know mirrors got that big."

"Come on, Jaden, we have to get upstairs before the mistress hears us. She's in a bed in the next room at the moment because we don't want the children to pester her with their crying or shouting" Jesse explained, pulling Jaden up a winding staircase. "Would you like to see the baby? I have to check on her anyway."

"Sure, why not?" Jaden had always liked little kids and his mother had never been able to conceive another child after him, so he was on his own. He'd always longed for brothers and sisters and had a fondness for children.

Jesse took him through several corridors and told him to wait outside one huge room, before he disappeared inside. He heard quiet whispering, but from the mature tone of his voice, Jaden guessed that he couldn't be talking to the baby and that there was another servant inside the room. He waited for a few minutes before Jesse reappeared with a three month old baby in his arms.

The baby had tufty navy hair and the blue eyes that all babies have. She was, just as Jesse had said, a very pretty child, with a little heart-shaped face and looked like pure innocence. She was big enough to support her own head and she lay against Jesse's chest, wide awake and looking up at the stranger in front of her. She didn't cry, though, as Jaden had expected her to.

"This is Vicky" Jesse introduced her, and Jaden couldn't help but notice that Jesse's voice was very soft when he had the baby with him. He was obviously fairly fond of the child. "Isn't she a beauty?"

"She sure is" Jaden laughed, touching the hand of the baby very softly. Her fingers twined themselves around his index finger and held on tight. He grinned and then glanced up at the bluenette.

"Who were you talking to in there?"

"Blair. She was taking care of this one for me" he said, stroking the baby's cheek. "We take turns since she has no actual nursemaid. Louisa, the master's elder daughter, has her own, so she's all right. Blair would probably take care of the baby herself, except that the mistress is often very sick and needs constant attention when she is - that's why I take care of Vicky so much."

"She seems to like you."

_And she's not the only one_, he thought.

"I should hope so" Jesse laughed. "She must think I'm her father, because I've been tending to her since the day she was born. She spends more time with me than anyone else."

Jaden was surprised that he was envious of a baby.

"I should probably get her something to eat now" Jesse said thoughtfully.

"I'll get some milk for her and you can wait in the room, if you want."

Jaden turned towards the person who had just spoken, and saw a small, dark haired girl smiling up at him. She gave him the sort of smile he gave Jesse. Jaden smirked, knowing where the girl's fancies were heading and also knowing that he could never look at any girl, no matter how pretty, in that way.

"That'd be great, Blair" Jesse said, nodding to the girl as he walked into the room that Jaden assumed was the nursery, gesturing for Jaden to follow him inside.

Jaden smiled awkwardly at Blair and then followed Jesse, who had gone inside the nursery and sat down on a primrose yellow couch - nasty colour - with the baby on his lap. Jaden sat next to his friend and allowed the baby girl to take hold of his finger again, grinning as he did. Now he understood why Jesse was so fond of the baby - she'd wrapped him around her little finger instantly.

Yawning, the baby girl shut her eyes, and snuggled into Jesse's chest contently. After a few moments, it became obvious to the two boys that she was sleeping.

"She'll wake up when I give her the milk" Jesse shrugged. "So, Jaden, what do you think of her?"

"She's beautiful."

"I know, right?" Jesse gently hugged the tiny baby, and then glanced over at his friend. He smiled. "You want to hold her?"

"What?" Jaden exclaimed, startled. "Eh … I don't … I don't know how." He smiled sadly. "I've never held a baby before."

"Seriously? I never had that problem - I was the eldest of six." Jesse smiled sadly, and Jaden realised that Jesse probably missed his family. The bluenette turned back, though, and smiled at his friend. "Doesn't matter, though. It's easy to hold a baby, especially when she's asleep. Just let her lean against you, and support her head."

He then passed the baby to Jaden's lap, while Jaden awkwardly tried to hold the baby in his arms as best he could. He couldn't find a comfortable way to lean the baby against his chest, but after a moment or two, Jesse leaned over and arranged his arms so that he could comfortably hold the child.

The tiny baby didn't even stir when she was passed over to Jaden and he grinned proudly as he held her.

"She's so cute!"

Jesse just laughed with his friend, and that was when Blair returned. The two boys looked up at their friend as she entered the room. They fell silent on seeing her, however, because Blair was ghostly pale and her hands appeared to be shaking.

"Jaden …" She had apparently heard his name from Jesse. "You have to go home now. Get yourself down the servants stairs and out of the house, quickly!"

"What? Why?"

"Blair, what's wrong?" Jesse asked urgently, getting to his feet.

"Jesse, the butler's come back from his trip. He's got a fever. It would be better for Jaden to go now. Before the authorities fear plague."

Jaden, shaking with fright, handed the baby over to Jesse and got to his feet. He stumbled on his way to the door and grabbed hold of the doorframe to stop himself from falling. Then he was vaguely aware that he was crying, and then even more vaguely aware of Jesse giving the baby over to Blair and taking his arm. He turned around at the contact, however, and stared at the worried green eyes.

"Don't be scared, Jaden. The master's butler takes fever easily, I'm sure it will be nothing at all. Just a sweating fever at the most" Jesse said, smiling uneasily. "I'll show you out, come on."

Jaden was taken down a staircase and out several doors before they reached one which led out into the outdoor world. Jesse turned to him and smiled.

"I hope I can see you again soon."

"Jesse, it's not plague that your butler has … right?"

"I'm sure it's not. He's a fat old sow and is always ill."

"But if it was, how would I see you?"

Jesse laughed here.

"You'd come round to the back window of the nursery and I'd speak to you from there" he said simply but then he sighed. "But it won't be the plague, Jaden, so there's no need to be so scared."

"I'm afraid something might happen to you."

"The same could happen to you just as easily, Jay, and I'm not happy with that" Jesse said softly. "So just promise me that you'll … be careful."

"Sure."

"Promise it and _mean _it!"

"I promise, Jess."

"Right."

Jesse seemed to hesitate but then he took Jaden's hand nervously and held it. Jaden almost flinched - why was Jesse so nervous? But of course, two men in contact such as holding hands was forbidden and shameful in the year of 1665. Jesse raised one eyebrow at Jaden, who closed his fingers firmly around Jesse's. Jaden grinned and nodded, realising what the bluenette was silently asking. Jesse grinned slightly, realising that the brunette had the same sexual preferences as he did.

"Take care of yourself, Jaden." He let go of his hand. "I'll see you soon."

Jaden nodded and smiled at Jesse, looking into his green eyes happily, before running out the door and back home.

Hazeru - Bit of a scare for Jaden.

Hera - Is it plague?

Hazeru - Find out next chapter.

Hera - Okay. R&R please


	6. Chapter 5  The First One

Hazeru - Here's another chapter.

Hera - Hope you all enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! GX or At The Sign Of The Sugared Plum

Chapter 5

The First One

Two weeks had passed since Jaden's visit to Mapleside Manor. He had seen Jesse once in those two weeks, but that was enough for him - just to know that it was indeed not plague that had befallen the butler of Mapleside Manor. Jesse was safe and that was all that mattered to Jaden.

His carefree attitude wasn't tainted by the news that three thousand people died of plague in one week. Aster had decided against visiting any more whorehouses - the ones that remained open - because he feared it would be too easy to catch the plague from the women there. Jaden was half thankful to the plague for getting his elder cousin out of the nasty houses. He didn't much notice the plague, despite the fact that one of his neighbours had contracted the sickness. They were close, only in the next lane from the bakery, but Jaden didn't know the people and so couldn't feel much sorrow. He could only feel the standard sympathy that came for all the people who were suffering and dying of the plague .

The sun was high in the sky - there had been no rain in London for weeks, which may have accounted for the terrible smell of the city - and there were no animals around any more. Cats and dogs had been killed for fear they might have spread the disease, and goats and pigs and chickens had been taken indoors to prevent their fur or skin or feathers picking up the plague germs. The lack of animals was all that disturbed the young brunette as he stared up and down the street, quite at ease, but he was soon disturbed by a long drawn out scream from a nearby house. Jaden thought quickly and gasped as he realised who lived there - that was where the Misawa family lived! Before he could react, Aster had run out of the shop and pulled him back into the shop's doorway. He kept his hand tightly around Jaden's arm to stop him running towards the source of the scream. Jaden was vaguely aware of many of his other neighbours coming to their own doorways to watch - Jim appeared in the house across from him, his red haired wife Jasmine beside him, shielding their two daughters from view. Further down the lane, but still in sight, Hasselberry threw his door open and stared at the Misawa family household.

Then, Bastian's wife Mindy ran from the house. She was screaming - though it hadn't been her who'd screamed before, Jaden was sure - and crying, and pulling at her hair and tearing at her clothes. It looked like the woman was going mad. Bastian then ran out and fell to his knees beside his sobbing wife, wrapping his arms around her, before somebody - a doctor, a man of authority, someone like that - forced the despairing couple into the house, despite their protests. Bastian argued but the door was slammed behind them, and as Jaden watched, horrified, a small paper note was placed on the door - LORD, HAVE MERCY ON US, it read. Jaden's heart stopped.

_Plague_!

Hasselberry stood at the door with Jim, speaking in hushed tones with the miserable cousins. All four men tactfully kept their eyes away from the house they were speaking of - Bastian's home. The whole street had been told to get inside their homes and remain there for two full hours. Now that the two hours had passed, neighbours were talking in groups, all of them desperate to know what was really happening. Everyone was sadly watching the Misawa home. The door was locked and barred now, painted with a fearful red cross and that damn paper note. A guard sat outside the house to make sure that nothing came out of the house, and anything that went inside had to go through him. The Misawa family had been hit by plague and were shut up for forty days. Aster closed his eyes as if in pain and then turned again to Jim.

"Their son?" he whispered. "This is horrible!"

"You got that right, mate" Jim said solemnly. "They say he was taken ill last night, but Mindy didn't call for a doctor. Said she was afraid someone would call the authorities. They thought it looked like a sweating sickness." He sighed deeply before continuing the story. "This morning, two buboes came up on the kid's body."

"Buboes? What are they?" Jaden asked, puzzled.

"Hard lumps of matter" Hasselberry whispered. "They come up on the neck or in the groin or under the arms. They are … a sure sign of plague."

"They say that the kid was in so much pain he hit his head off a wall to try and knock himself out but it didn't work. Bastian called for a doctor but he arrived too late. They say that by the time he got there, the poor kid couldn't move his legs or head without screaming" Jim continued, his face blank. "Apparently, he screamed out one last time and then died. That was what we all heard."

The four men fell silent for a few moments, before Aster turned and began to walk into the bakery.

"Thanks for the information, boys. Jaden, it's time we went inside. There's plague right beside us and we can't be outside too long."

Jaden nodded, afraid, to Jim and Hasselberry and then hurried inside.

"We've heard nothing of the Misawa family for three days!" Jaden said angrily, pacing unhappily in the back room of their shop. "Bastian hated being stuck indoors, there was always something to be studied outside for him … I can't stand this, Aster, we have to go and see how they're doing."

"Jaden, be rational, will you!" Aster growled. "We can't do anything for them!"

"I know, but … hey, I've got an idea! Let's make some little cakes for them and take them over to the house."

"Cakes?"

"They could cheer them up!" Jaden said, offended by Aster's tone. "Sweet things always cheer me up when I'm sick …"

"You've never been sick with a sickness that could be the end of you, Jaden! We don't even know if they still live!"

"Then we have to go and see!"

After much yelling and arguing, Aster reluctantly agreed to give some small cakes to the guard in front of the house and inquire after the poor enclosed family.

The cakes being made, Aster and Jaden headed down to the nasty house. The red cross on the door warned everyone that there was plague there - and everyone seemed to be avoiding the house, walking past it as quickly as they could. Everyone except the two cousins who approached the guard.

"Hey, were you asleep just there?" Jaden demanded. The guard shook his head and Jaden went on "so how are they doing? Do they need anything?"

"This family give me no trouble. They're quiet as flowers."

"We've brought something for them. Could you give it to them?" Aster said, desperate to leave, and he passed over the basket which contained the cakes. "Right, we should get going now, Jaden."

"Oh no, we're not! When did you last see them?" Jaden persisted.

"I don't know. I threw in food this morning but I saw no people" the guard shrugged. "Maybe they were sleeping."

"No, that's not good enough. We have to see them!"

"You can't go in" the guard said, unenthusiastically. "Hold on. Are you family?"

"_Yes_! They're our cousins, and we have to know how they are!" Jaden lied, and he handed a few coins over to the guard. "You must open the door and shout for them."

The door was flung open by the bemused guard, who held a cloth over his mouth. Jaden and Aster both copied him using a corner of their shirts.

"How do you keep?" the guard called. "Is there anything you need?"

There was no answer.

"I fear that everything's not well, Jaden" Aster whispered, and then he took a deep breath and braced himself to call. "Hello? Bastian, it's Aster!"

The dark hallway was still. Nobody replied. The guard looked around disgustedly and then pressed the cloth harder to his mouth.

"I smell death" he murmured, and Jaden gasped.

"You must go in! You must go and see who's dead!"

The guard argued viciously for a moment, saying that he wasn't paid to enter houses of death, but Aster handed over a few more coins and the guard dashed into the house, searching the downstairs before running upstairs (the Misawa family had two floors). Jaden and Aster stood silently, moving back a bit from the house so they could breathe without fear of plague. After a short while, the guard reappeared.

"There's a young woman lying dead in a bed upstairs, and a little boy dead on the floor beside her" he informed the worried cousins. "And there's a man lying dead by the kitchen table."

Aster and Jaden returned to their bakery, both looking gloomy and saying nothing. They listened for a while and, as darkness fell, they heard the death cart trundling up the street. They peered out of their shop and saw two ghastly looking men entering the Misawa household. One came out with two corpses flung carelessly over his shoulder, and the last dragged behind him another corpse. They threw the three bodies onto the cart, the sheets they'd used to hide the corpses from view getting tosses carelessly to the side. The corpses of the Misawa family were in view, and Jaden gasped and ran to the back of the shop. He opened the back door and threw up as quietly as he could in the back garden, while Aster stared in horror as the corpses of Bastian, Mindy and their son were taken away.

Hazeru - Plague is right next door to Jaden! Will he and Aster be safe?

Hera - At least Jesse's not in a house with plague. R&R please


	7. Chapter 6  Moonlight

Hazeru - Here's the next chapter.

Hera - There was some death in the last chapter.

Hazeru - I know :(

Hera - Enjoy the chapter, everyone!

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! GX or At The Sign Of The Sugared Plum

Chapter 6

Moonlight

"So they took them off on the cart, and we haven't heard anything about funerals so I'm guessing there won't be any. They'll just get tossed any which way into graves, not even on their own."

"Graves? Plague pits, you mean."

"Plague pits?"

"Great holes in the ground made by the authorities in the city. They hold forty, eighty bodies. I've heard that the biggest of them can hold two hundred."

"Two hundred!"

"In just one pit. And all of them together, with no care whatsoever."

All was silent for a few minutes as the two youths looked overhead and noticed that the sun would soon be setting. Without consulting the other, they both turned and began to walk back the way they came, for they'd walked a very long distance and had little time to get back before darkness fell. The smaller of the two, the one wearing red, turned sadly to his bluenette friend.

"You think Bastian might have been thrown into one of the plague pits, then?" Jaden asked sorrowfully, for he hadn't known about the pits made to take the corpses of plague victims. "And his wife and son, too?"

"Probably" Jesse said sadly. "How long ago were they taken on the death cart?"

"Almost a week ago."

"Plague pit" the bluenette concluded, walking on. He then stopped and turned around, noticing that the brunette hadn't followed. "What's wrong, Jay?"

"Nothing. It's just … there are so many … so many people dying, Jess. What if you die, too? Or me? Or Aster?" Jaden was becoming more and more scared. "I saw the Bills Of Mortality today and they … there are almost fourth thousand dead of the plague! It's getting worse and worse. A few of the houses in my lane were enclosed. Jim - one of my neighbours - he says that if they don't stop imprisoning the dead with the living, the whole population could fall!"

"It won't be so, Jaden. London always finds a way to survive. Besides, most of the quality have already gone of the city to their homes in the country" Jesse reassured his 'friend', putting one arm around the brunette's shoulders. "The master's brother left for the country two days ago."

"His brother?"

"Syrus Truesdale. He's gone already, but we have to stay a while longer. Only two in a house can get Certificates Of Health and leave the city, so they're still deciding who should go to join him." Jesse sighed softly. "And they can't leave yet, anyway. The mistress is still sick."

"Still?"

"Yup. She's no worse but no better."

"I feel sorry for her."

"Don't we all?" Jesse said gently. "And for every other poor person left here in London. People are dying left and right."

"How do we know we won't die, too?" Jaden said quietly, hiding his eyes under his hair, not wanting to show Jesse his tears. "We're not immune. Nobody is."

"We're strong, though, Jaden. We'll survive."

"Jess, can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"We were wondering earlier - me and Aster, I mean - if it was possible to catch the plague and survive?"

Jesse was quiet for a moment and then he shrugged.

"It is possible. But only if the buboes burst and discharge their poison. And even then, only if the tokens have not appeared."

"Tokens? What are they?"

"They're like little marks under the skin. Like pink blotches, I've heard. And if they show up, then that person is dead, even if the buboes have burst."

"So if a person has only buboes, and they burst, that person can live. But if they have tokens, they will surely die?"

"That's what I've heard, anyway."

The two kept on walking, but not fast enough - it was dark by the time they reached where they had to be in the city. They stood outside the bakery and glanced at each other. Jesse would keep walking on to Mapleside Manor and sneak inside - servants weren't allowed out after a certain time and he had missed that time - but he paused and took both Jaden's hands in his.

Jaden gulped and looked into the green eyes of his friend. His friend who he wanted in more ways than one. He felt himself blushing.

"Jaden … I know this is sudden, but with the sickness spreading so quickly, we have to do what we want while we are still alive." Jesse closed his eyes as if in pain. "I don't want anything to happen to you."

"I don't want anything to happen to either of us" Jaden whispered.

"Well" Jesse sighed. "I hope I'll see you again soon, then."

"Let's go out tomorrow, Jesse."

"I won't be able to. The mistress has a high fever and the baby isn't well. I have to stay and look after her while Blair takes care of the mistress."

"When, then?"

"As soon as possible. I'll come for you soon, and we'll go out to the meadows where the herbs grow. They'd be beneficial for your cakes and breads and things, and I know of some that have healing properties - perhaps the mistress would benefit from them. We can go there as soon as I have the time."

"Okay, Jess."

"Well, goodnight, then."

Jaden was about to reply but he didn't get a chance to. Jesse kissed his cheek and then grinned at him, before walking off quickly in the direction of Mapleside Manor. Jaden stood, flushed and motionless, for several minutes before a smile crept to his face and he went inside.

Aster was waiting for him inside, kneading dough that had travelled all the way to his elbows. He turned around when he heard footsteps and smiled at his blushing cousin. Jesse had come by a few hours earlier and asked Jaden to take a walk with him. Aster couldn't remember the last time Jaden had been so excited about something.

"So, how was your walk?"

"It was … nice" Jaden said quietly, smiling to himself as he began mixing some ingredients. "He told me about the plague pits. Have you heard of them?"

"Yes. That doesn't sound like nice conversation, though."

"No, that was the horrible bit. He told me about these meadows, though, where herbs grow. He said we could probably use them in baking."

"And I suppose you will be going with him to visit there?"

"If that's okay."

"You'll go whether I say it's okay or not."

"Probably" Jaden grinned.

The two talked for a few hours before going to bed, and Jaden was all too aware that he hadn't told Aster that Jesse had kissed him - okay, it was only a peck on the cheek, but that was still a kiss, and that proved that Jesse had the same feelings for him as he had for the bluenette - but he decided that he shouldn't. It could be embarrassing for both of them, and that small kiss should be a secret until he was sure - absolutely sure - that Jesse cared that way for him.

As he was slowly falling asleep, the other thing dawned on him - while he was with Jesse, unless it was directly mentioned, he had been able to forget about the plague entirely.

Hazeru - The plague pits sound horrible!

Hera - But at least Jaden got a kiss from Jesse.

Hazeru - Sadly, only on the cheek.

Hera - A kiss all the same. R&R please


	8. Chapter 7  Healing Herbs

Hazeru - I'm getting into this fic now :)

Hera - Even if you are killing characters off.

Hazeru - Yeah, I seem to be good at that.

Hera - And here I thought I was supposed to be the violent one.

Hazeru - :(

Hera - Anyway, enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! GX or At The Sign Of The Sugared Plum

Chapter 7

Healing Herbs

The sun was shining brightly and casting its rays down on the multiple herbs and flowers that rioted the fields endlessly. Jaden couldn't tell what most of them were and he didn't care. Whenever Jesse told him that something was safe to use in bakery, he gathered a quantity of it to take home, but he was more focused on the bluenette than anything else. Jesse had a number of herbs in a small sack to take back to the mistress - so he'd said - and was now helping Jaden to gather a large amount of rosemary to take back to the bakery.

"It's said to help prevent the plague" Jesse told him. "And even if it's not helping anyone, at least it's not hurting them either."

"Think we can mix in with the bread or cakes?"

"Pretty sure you could."

"Sweet!"

A comfortable silence fell over the two boys as they gathered what herbs they needed, and eventually they turned to each other and agreed that it was time to start heading home. Jaden invited Jesse to come into the bakery and finally meet his cousin. The bluenette was hesitant, for the two had earlier agreed that their relationship - they had an unspoken bond which said they were together - would have to stay secret. Jaden smiled at his 'friend' and told him that Aster already knew that Jaden preferred males. This surprised Jesse, who'd never told anyone before Jaden.

"So is he really okay with it?" Jesse asked dubiously.

"Yeah, he said he doesn't care. He said that it just meant more whores for him."

"He likes whores, then?"

"Yeah. Well, at least he used to. Now he doesn't go to the whorehouses because he's afraid he'd catch plague if he did." Jaden sighed softly. "Two more houses are shut up in our lane. Three of our neighbours have died."

"The master says that he hasn't been so scared for many years - though he's so emotionless that you'd never know he was afraid. The mistress cries now. She says her children are going to die if she doesn't get well enough to travel soon."

"Lady Truesdale blames herself for her fever?"

"Alexis is like that" Jesse shrugged.

"Alexis?"

"That's her actual name, Jay. Generally, we call the master and mistress by their first names. They're not so vain that they mind, really."

"It's Zane Truesdale, isn't it? Her husband?"

"Yeah. Syrus, Zane's brother, has already gone and he sent a letter yesterday saying that he was waiting for them to arrive as soon as Alexis is well enough."

"I thought only two people could get Certificates Of Health?"

"Zane's staying here to take care of business matters. Alexis and her daughters are going away. They're going to say that the baby's newly born so she won't need a Certificate."

The two boys arrived at the bakery where Aster greeted them unenthusiastically, but when introduced to his cousin's boyfriend, he introduced himself to Jesse politely enough. Jaden breathed a sigh of relief that Aster didn't seem to take anything against Jesse, but instead seemed to like him well enough.

Unfortunately for the two, Aster was in a pretty mad mood and not up for conversation. When they enquired why, he only sighed and turned to Jaden, seeming sad. He kept his voice low as he spoke.

"Another house shut up, just down the lane."

"Who was it?" Jaden asked, scared.

"I'm sorry, Jaden" Aster muttered, and he looked away. "Hasselberry."

"Hasselberry!" the brunette gasped. "But he lives alone! That means that …"

"He was the one taken sick" Jesse whispered, taking Jaden's hand. Jaden held onto the bluenette for comfort; Hasselberry had become one of his good friends and he didn't want to see him suffer.

"Is he …when did you last see him?" Jaden whispered.

"Last night. I didn't see the house get shut up, though it's boarded up with that red plague cross on the door now. Jim told me" Aster said sadly. "He says it was almost certainly caught from Hasselberry's friend, who was taken sickly of the plague a few days ago. Hasselberry had seen him recently and told Jim about their walk."

"Who was the friend?"

"I don't know. Some servant from Redfern Manor."

"Redfern Manor!" Jesse gasped.

"What?" Jaden asked, puzzled. "What's wrong, Jess?"

"Redfern Manor hasn't been enclosed has it?" Jesse panicked.

"I don't know" Aster said. "The servant may have been taken to a pesthouse."

"I hope so" Jesse whispered.

"Why? Jess, who lives in Redfern Manor?" Jaden worried.

"The mistress' brother. Alexis has an older brother who's the head of Redfern Manor. Atticus Rhodes" Jesse told them. "If it's been enclosed, he'll be trapped in there, too. That would kill whatever spirit Alexis still has and she might …"

A silence fell over the three young men, but this time, it was the most uncomfortable silence they'd felt for a long time.

Hazeru - Is Atticus going to be okay? And Hasselberry, who has plague?

Hera - R&R please


	9. Chapter 8  Bad News

Hazeru - Here's another chapter for you.

Hera - Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! GX or At The Sign Of The Sugared Plum

Chapter 8

Bad News

Some two weeks passed, and Jaden saw his bluenette boyfriend (not that he'd call Jesse that in public) regularly, every two or three days. During that time, more people continued to die of the plague, and each week the number of deaths shown in the Bills Of Mortality seemed to get higher and higher, until even Jaden Yuki began to be in dismal spirits. People lay dead in the streets if nobody happened to see them die, and it often took a while for the death cart to arrive. The death cart began to come in the daytime as well as at night, because the hours of darkness weren't enough to collect all the bodies and transport them to the plague pits.

Jesse told the brunette that Redfern Manor had not been enclosed and that Atticus Rhodes had recently left for the security of the country. The servant there had been taken to a pesthouse (a hospital for people sick of something contagious) and so the plague hadn't spread to the rest of the house.

Even Jaden was grumpy on that morning - he'd been up ridiculously early making bread with herbs strewn through the mixture, because he couldn't sleep. The previous week, he had heard horrible news from Jim: Hasselberry had been taken on the death cart. Jaden sorely missed his friend and hadn't been in the best of moods in the week since his death. He'd accepted that Hasselberry had died, but what he couldn't stand was the thought of his body being thrown without any care into a plague pit, along with so many other poor corpses.

The news came on a perfectly sunny day, when - if the houses enclosed had been open and there had been people laughing in the streets - everything would've looked calm and happy. Jaden was thrown the wasted bread outside when he suddenly saw a man running towards him, a young man with a cloak and reddish purple hair. The man stopped in front of Jaden and surveyed him.

"You're Jaden, right? Jaden Yuki?"

"Yeah, that's me. Who are you?"

"I'm Adrian" he panted, tired from the running. "I work in Mapleside Manor."

_That's where Jesse works_, Jaden thought.

"What's wrong?" he asked fearfully. "Does Jesse need me for something, or does your mistress want special breads or cakes?"

"No" Adrian said grimly. "It's our house. Our house has been enclosed!"

Jaden felt all the blood in his body run cold.

"Jesse told me to come and tell you. I've got to go tell Princeton at the tailor's, too."

"Tell Chazz? Why?"

"You didn't know? Chazz is Blair's sweetheart, and she's shut up in that house just as Jesse is, and the master and mistress, and their children."

"How did you get out, then?"

"I ran off. Two maids got away as well, but Jesse and Blair shouted down to me and told me to run and tell you two about it."

"Thanks."

"Well, I've got to go. I'll find a way to sneak out of the city. Good luck."

"Good luck with what?" Jaden whispered.

"Jesse said that if you go around to the back window, he said you'd know which one, then he'd speak to you from there."

"Thanks" Jaden repeated, recalling that Jesse had said this once before.

Adrian nodded once and then ran off the tell Chazz Princeton of Blair's enclosed house before running home.

Aster had never seen Jaden like this. He walked into the shop as pale as a sheet, like he'd seen a ghost or several. Like he'd just heard something truly awful. Maybe another neighbour had been taken sick? He glanced out the shop door to their only good friend in the neighbourhood's house. No signs of plague there, so Jim must be okay. What, then? He asked his cousin and the brunette near enough broke down into tears. He turned his back on his cousin and told him that Jesse had been shut up in Mapleside Manor. He told him about Adrian, and all that he'd said.

"Who is it that's sick?" Aster asked fearfully.

"He didn't tell me."

"It may not be Jesse. He might be as well as ever."

"But he's shut up in a house of plague!" Jaden growled angrily. "He'll catch the plague and get sick and be in pain and then he'll die and …" Here came the tears. "I have to go and see him Aster!"

"Go then" Aster whispered.

He was scared that it may be dangerous for Jaden to go near a house full of plague, but he knew better than to argue. He had seen what Jaden felt for Jesse, something that he'd never heard his cousin admit and - knowing Jaden - his cousin didn't even realise himself. But he knew Jaden - he knew that he was in love. Aster had grown reasonably fond of Jesse himself, and realised that if he was willing to love Jaden, and he definitely was, then Aster wouldn't be able to stand in their way.

Aster hugged his little cousin until he stopped crying and then Jaden walked out the door. He walked off in the direction of Mapleside Manor, leaving Aster to worry and hope that everything would be okay in the end.

Hazeru - Mapleside Manor is shut up, but who's actually got plague?

Hera - What'll happen to Jesse and Blair and everyone else? R&R please


	10. Chapter 9  From The Back Window

Hazeru - Here's the next chapter :)

Hera - Hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! GX or At The Sign Of The Sugared Plum

Chapter 9

From The Back Window

The city was different. It was colourless. It was bleak and dismal and a thoroughly miserable place to be. The setting was nasty and the buildings were tatty and nothing looked the way it had a mere hour ago. Jaden knew that the reason for that was something had happened which had personally effected him. Until now, the plague was an inconvenience, a pain in the neck and the stealer of a few of his friends and thousands that he didn't know so couldn't miss. His family wasn't in London; they were all home and safe in the country. Even when Bastian and Hasselberry died - sure, he'd been sad, but he hadn't been strongly effected by it. Truth be known, he'd known them as neighbours more than anything. They were friends but they weren't close. Jesse was another story altogether.

Jaden arrived at Mapleside Manor with tears streaked down his cheeks, but he wiped them away angrily, trying to remember that this house was recently shut up from plague and whatever he might see would be nothing compared to the horrors the people inside were going through.

There was a guard at the front of the house but he looked to be sleeping and Jaden slipped into the huge backyard of Mapleside Manor. Here, he looked up at one of the first windows. All the windows on the first floor were boarded up tightly and he looked up. Nearby one window was a tall man with navy hair. He was of a pale complexion and had his arms around a woman with dirty blonde hair. From Jesse's descriptions, he knew them to be Zane Truesdale and his wife Alexis. They were too absorbed in whatever conversation they were having to notice the intruder in their yard and Jaden took a few moments to observe them. Jaden felt a pang of sympathy for them - the man seemed well and healthy enough but it was obvious from her pale skin with feverish red cheeks that Alexis was sick. Casting them one sad glance, the brunette moved on to the next windows. He swallowed hard and then called out the name of his bluenette boyfriend.

Out of one open window - for this house had glass in the windows unlike his little bakery - there came a gentle reply in a girl's voice to hang on for a second, and then the young dark haired girl he'd seen some time before appeared at the window. Blair, he remembered, was her name.

"Hey, Blair" he said, trying to seem cheerful. "Is everything okay? Where's Jesse?"

"He's downstairs with some of the servants." She bit her lip. "They're all discussing what we should do about cook."

"Cook?"

"It was the cook who got sick. She was a fat old woman and travelled all the time. It's a wonder she lasted until now free of the plague, but it's got her now" Blair said in a sad voice. "The master and mistress have gone up to the top of the floor and Jesse and I have been left here on the second with the two children. All the other servants are to stay downstairs and do whatever and take care of cook."

"When will Jesse be … free to talk?"

"I'm not sure, but if you come again tomorrow, I'll tell him to wait in here for you. I know he thinks very highly of you" she added gently.

"Not as much as I think of him" I said boldly.

Blair gave him a surprised look but said she'd tell Jesse that he'd come, and ask him to wait in the room until he came the next day. Jaden was desperately worried when he walked back to the bakery, and he wouldn't talk to Aster no matter what his cousin said. He also refused to do anything but slump on the bed and sulk.

At any other time, Aster would have hit him. Not now.

When the sun rose the next day, Jaden and Aster got out of bed, and Jaden said he would help make a batch of little cakes with rosemary in them - wasn't rosemary said to be effective in preventing the plague? - and then he was going back to Mapleside Manor. Aster, knowing the state of his younger cousin's heart, didn't try to stop him, although he was worried for Jaden that it might be dangerous to talk to someone, even from a distance, who was shut up in a house of the plague.

The cakes took a while to make, but Jaden eventually rushed from his house, calling a quick greetings to Jim as he ran past his neighbour, and hurried to the grand house. The guard was not asleep now but was standing attentive. Jaden could barely notice him, though, because his sight was entirely focused on the dreadful sight at the front of Mapleside Manor: the Death Cart!

A body was being tied in a sheet by two dirty looking men and was carelessly thrown onto the back of the cart. Jaden's heart stopped - someone inside that house was already dead of the plague. Could it be that … no, it couldn't. Jesse was perfectly healthy, and it hadn't been he who'd contracted the sickness. But Jaden had heard many tales of a person being healthy one moment and dead the next, of some people who were dead before they even knew they'd caught the plague. What if …

It took a few minutes after the death cart trundled away for Jaden, having judged by the fat size of the corpse that it was no way it could have been the bluenette, ran into the backyard once more.

This time he didn't have to call for his friend. Jesse was already standing at the same window he'd spoken to Blair at. His friend looked to be in some distress. He looked perfectly healthy, but his blue hair was messier than usual and he looked worried and unhappy. He was standing at the open window, leaning against the frame, with the baby in his arms. He smiled when he saw his brunette friend.

"Hey, Jaden."

"Jesse! Are you okay?"

The bluenette shrugged.

"I'm not sick and I feel okay" Jesse said. "I've been here since first daylight."

Jaden started to apologise for not arriving sooner, but Jesse stopped him, saying that it wasn't especially that he had been waiting for the brunette but because he wanted the baby to take in fresh air from outside and not breathe in the foul atmosphere of the house. Jaden nodded, the guilt lifting from him.

"I saw the cart outside. Who…" Jaden trailed off.

"Cook."

"So quick?"

"Yep" Jesse nodded. "She was a cold hearted woman and I didn't like her much but … I wouldn't have wished that death on her."

"Did she have the buboes?"

"In her groin. She screamed for four hours last night and the maids had to tie her to the bed because she said she was going to kill herself." Jesse laughed without humour. "It didn't do much good, though. She broke the ropes and used the hammer to break open her skull. Now her head is shattered and she is gone."

"Ouch" was all Jaden could say. "But are you well, Jesse? Truly?"

"As well as anyone can be in a place like this."

"And are you … are you in contact with many people?"

"Not really" Jesse shrugged. "The master and mistress have gone upstairs and locked themselves in their bedroom with some food and a good supply of water. The maids and butlers and other servants, they're all somewhere downstairs. Blair and I are in charge of the children, so it's just us and them on this floor." He sighed softly. "One of the maids who ran off when we were shut up was Louisa's nursemaid. Blair's taking care of her now, so the baby's in my care only."

"Are you okay, looking after a baby on your own?"

"I love Vicky. She's been so good, as well" Jesse laughed, gently tickling the baby he held. "She's a good girl."

"Will you be okay, Jesse?"

"Of course I will. I'm strong, aren't I?" he laughed.

"I know, but still … never mind, I'm being stupid." Jaden sighed deeply. "Jess, you know I really like you, right?"

"I know, Jaden. I feel the same way for you."

"It's weird, you know. Two guys …"

"It's not weird, it's just not what's normal" Jesse corrected.

"When you get out, Jess, we'll be together again."

"I know we will."

"Hey, Jess … when are you getting out of there? It's forty days, right?"

"Forty days from the last death" Jesse said sadly, and fear washed his features before it left quickly as Jesse regained control. "If another person dies next week, or in two weeks time, those forty days will start all over again."

"Jesse …"

"Don't worry about it. We'll be okay" Jesse said brightly, forcing a smile onto his face. He sighed softly. "Anyway, Jaden, I have to put this one to bed." He indicated the baby who had fallen asleep, her delicate head on his shoulder. "Will you come again tomorrow?"

"Of course, Jess. I'll try to come every day."

"That's great, Jay."

"I'll see you tomorrow, then?"

"Yep."

Jaden waved goodbye and then left Mapleside Manor, trying to have a positive outlook on the situation. Jesse was shut up, yes, but he himself was in good health, and he seemed as happy as anyone in that situation could be.

It wasn't until he arrived home that Jaden realised that he and Jesse had made one small step to admitting those feelings they had for each other. For some time, since that innocent peck on the cheek, he had begun to accept and understand his true feelings towards the bluenette. Knowing that Jesse returning those feelings filled the brunette with warmth.

That was the first night that Jaden dared to admit to himself that he was indeed in love with Jesse Andersen.

Hazeru - At least Jesse's okay, even if they are shut up.

Hera - He's really fond of the baby.

Hazeru - That's important for later.

Hera - Okay. R&R please


	11. Chapter 10  Shame

Hazeru - Here's another chapter.

Hera - Time to check in with those enclosed in Mapleside Manor.

Hazeru - Enjoy the chapter!

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! GX or At The Sign Of The Sugared Plum

Chapter 10

Shame

The day after that, Jaden woke up early and went to get out of bed but collapsed. His legs felt like they'd turned to jelly and he had a dull ache in his gut. His head pounded and he, basically, felt terrible. When the sun was high in the sky he tried to move again, but was shoved back down by his cousin. Aster told him that he must now leave their shop, because if he was weak he'd be more likely to take an infection. Feeling guilty that he'd not visit his bluenette that day and worried about himself, Jaden didn't really argue with his older cousin. A small frown crept to his face as he realised he was truly ill - only when he was truly sick did he lose the stubbornness that was such a big part of his personality. The brunette still felt tired and weak.

It crossed Jaden's mind, and of course it crossed Aster's mind also, that these might be the first signs of plague in his body. Neither of the boys mentioned it but it was all that was on their minds that night as they went to bed, both worried about themselves and those they cared about. For Jaden, he didn't care what happened to him, as long as a certain someone was safe and sound.

To Jaden's great shame, three whole days passed before he finally left the bakery to go and see Jesse at last. He had been bedridden and ill for two days, but on the third, he had been better and probably well enough to go - but he was tired and felt safe inside the bakery with his cousin and had no wish to travel. Even the bluenette was forgotten as the fear of plague consumed the brunette. He'd learned the previous evening that almost six thousand died of the plague in the most recent Bills Of Mortality.

Fear mixed in with his shame as he reached Mapleside Manor. There was no death cart there, it was true, but the house seemed still and silent and miserable. When he'd last visited, there had been signs of life from within the house - banging and voices from inside the house in various rooms - but now it was dead silence. There was a guard outside the house, though. That meant that there were still living people in the house.

Jaden called out for the bluenette when he found a spot in the back yard where he could easily see the window. He had to call twice but his friend appeared at the window, though this time without the baby, and looking miserable.

"Jesse, I'm sorry I've not come for so long" he said sadly. "I was sick and we were scared it might have been the sickness, but it wasn't."

There was no answer, and the brunette began to panic.

"Are you okay, Jess?"

"I'm well enough" Jesse answered quietly, looking Jaden in the eye for the first time that day. "But I think I'm going to go mad with being enclosed in here."

"Oh. But you are … I mean, are you still … healthy?"

"I am" Jesse said quietly. "But the master has a lump under his arm and complains of the pain constantly. They're sending a doctor to see him. And two of the maids say they are feeling ill and have taken bed rest. The master's butler, too. He lies in bed with such a sweat that the maids with him can't keep him dry no matter how many times they change the sheets."

Jaden felt his blood run cold. "Is it plague, then?" he whispered, just loud enough.

"We fear so" Jesse whispered back.

After an awkward silence, Jaden dared to ask about the rest of the household's members that he actually knew about. Jesse shrugged.

"The mistress is okay, but Alexis was sick anyway, so we can't really tell if she's well or sick. Blair's all right, she's strong. The two children are well enough, too. Louisa is doing well from what Blair tells me, but she's only five years old. I don't think she even understands what's happening." Jesse's eyes caught light from somewhere. "The baby is perfectly healthy, though. I keep her at the window whenever she's awake and she takes in the air, and I feed her well, they keep us well supplied."

Small talk was made for an hour or so before Jaden realised he had to get back to Aster and the bakery. He waved goodbye to the unhappy bluenette and then made his way back, feeling sick with worry and even sicker with shame. He was completely ashamed to say that he was glad to leave the house. He cared very deeply for Jesse, but this visit had frightened him. The bluenette seemed so different - he was miserable and seemed to have lost much of his hope. Jaden made a vow to stand by his friend no matter what he might see or hear, for he was always drawn back to his earlier point - no matter what he encountered, it would be nothing compared to the horror and misery that Jesse was surely going through.

Hazeru - Is the plague taking hold of the manor? Find out next chapter!

Hera - R&R please


	12. Chapter 11  Taking Hold

Hazeru - I wrote this about ten minutes after I posted the last chapter.

Hera - She can really get into the writing sometimes.

Hazeru - Enjoy the chapter!

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! GX or At The Sign Of The Sugared Plum

Chapter 11

Taking Hold

There was an order from the Lord Mayor of London the next morning that there were to be no more church bells tolling mournfully to tell of the latest death, because the people of the city were fed up with hearing them. People of the city that could still be out and about to hear them, that is, for many of the population of London were shut up in plague filled houses or dead or had fled to the country.

"Jaden, I want you to be careful today. There's been a rumour that there's a man in this area who's recently contracted plague but can't be caught. I don't want you running into some freak who refuses to be shut up" Aster said to Jaden, who was preparing to go and visit his enclosed bluenette. "Don't go near anyone who looks sick or scared or anything."

"Aster, leave me alone" Jaden whispered, hiding his face. "I'm going to see Jesse."

"I know. Just be careful, will you?"

"I'll try" the brunette shrugged. "I don't know when I'll be back."

"Whenever you're done swooning over Jesse" Aster smirked.

Jaden made a move as if he was going to hit his cousin, but relented at the last moment and turned away. It wasn't that he didn't want to cause his cousin any harm - he really did want to hit Aster, preferably by punching his face - but more that he didn't want Aster to see the tears in his eyes.

Jesse was miserable and that thought alone was enough to frustrate the brunette. Knowing that there was a possibility that his friend - more than a friend - could get the dreaded sickness was hurting him more than he'd thought was possible.

"I won't be too long" Jaden muttered, before running out the door and towards the house he longed to see and feared so much.

Mapleside Manor looked much the same as it had the previous day, and Jaden went around the back and called up to his friend. Jesse appeared at the window almost immediately, the baby Vicky in his arms, a worried look on his face. He tried to smile at Jaden, failed, and looked away.

"Jess, what's wrong? What's happened?"

"It's the servants, Jaden" the bluenette whispered. "They're completely shut off from us now, at the request of the mistress. The butler is sick, he has the …"

"He has the plague?" Jaden said, so quietly that he had to repeat the question before Jesse could hear him.

"He does. And so do most of the servants and so does … the master most likely has the sickness, too." Jesse shuddered and took a minute to regain control of himself. "I don't know what to do any more. I think I'm going mad. Blair has a fever, too, and she's still trying to take care of Louisa - she won't let me help."

"Blair has the plague?" Jaden burst out.

"No! Don't say that!" Jesse cried, and then he sighed softly. "I don't know, but we're very good friends. She can't …"

"Your master and mistress?" Jaden asked fearfully. "Zane and Alexis, right?"

"Zane, the master, he's … I don't think he's moved from bed for two days, he seems to be barely conscious. Alexis - that's the mistress - she's all right for the moment, but she continually comes down here to see the children and I fear she's bringing plague germs down with her. She says she has to be with her children now, but she could be hurting them more, and if they get it …" Jesse trailed off. The brunette gave him time to once again regain control before he continued "…I don't think I could stand it if the baby were to get sick."

Suddenly, there was a crash from the bottom floor of the house, followed by a horrific, high pitched scream, and the sound of running footsteps. Then more cries of worry, from many different people, it sounded like. Jaden looked fearfully up at Jesse, but the bluenette stood still and silent.

"Jesse, what just happened?"

No answer.

"Jesse!"

"Someone's … somebody just died, Jaden. That scream was the same as the cook cried when she was sick." Jesse let out a small cry and had to lean against the window frame, the crying baby clutched to his chest. "Shh, Vicky. Don't cry" he whispered to the baby. He then turned to Jaden. "The death cart will be along soon, to collect the body."

"Who was it that died?"

"I don't know. It was a woman, one of the maids. Probably Abigail or Rebecca, they were both looking likely to die at any moment last time I saw them."

"Jesse, you have to get out of there, before you …"

"Jaden, I _can't _leave. I want to, believe me, but there's no way. Even if I got out, I'd be spreading the sickness and I can't do that to people."

Jaden understood now that Jesse was a truly kind-hearted person. He'd rather endanger his own life than risk spreading the sickness to others he'd never met. Jaden looked up when Jesse spoke his name.

"You have to go now, Jay. Before they come."

"Jesse … I don't want to leave you. I …"

"I know, Jay, but you've got to go" Jesse interrupted him. "You can come again tomorrow, right?"

"Of course I will."

"I'll see you tomorrow, then."

"Wait for me, Jess. I'll be here."

"I trust you."

And Jaden ran off while Jesse fell to his knees as a sharp pain flooded up him. He watched his friend run off but closed his eyes in realisation.

Jaden, meanwhile, realised that he had very nearly told Jesse the truth. He knew that he loved him, and he would soon tell Jesse that. He had to, because it seemed that the plague was taking hold in Mapleside Manor.

Hazeru - Everyone in the manor's in danger!

Hera - R&R please.


	13. Chapter 12  Tailor's Sorrow

Hazeru - Here we go, another chapter.

Hera - Let's see how everyone's doing, and why Jesse was in pain at the end of the last chapter.

Hazeru - Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! GX or At The Sign Of The Sugared Plum

Chapter 12

Tailor's Sorrow

The next morning was sunny and warm and everything that was the opposite of Jaden Yuki's mood. He would have looked more in place in a gloomy setting such as a stormy day in the country or a neglected pig sty. His brown eyes were dull with fearful anticipation as he slowly made his way to Mapleside Manor. The previous day, someone had died in the house, and he'd been there when it had happened. He and Jesse had both froze when they'd heard the scream, and then Jesse had told him to get away before the death cart arrived. Today, he was going back to see Jesse again and find out who had died, for that scream had been haunting him all night and he had barely slept. Consequentially, neither had Aster, who was less than happy with him and had told him that he wasn't leaving the bakery for a week. Jaden had argued of course, and Aster relented when Jaden agreed to go to the tailor's and pick out a new silver suit for him. He had denied Jaden his freedom to go out only to get that suit - there was no point in telling Jaden he couldn't see Jesse. He'd find a way.

Jaden now walked into the tailor's run by the Princeton family. He saw two older men in the back room, and the younger Chazz Princeton in the front, cutting up fabric with a scowl on his face. Jaden was about to ask what he was so grumpy about when he noticed that Chazz had something wet on his cheeks and that his eyes were red and puffy. He'd been crying and was now masking it with a frown. Jaden had met with Chazz here at the tailor's - he kind of liked the shop, for some reason - enough times to realise that the black haired male would talk to him about it, though he'd be begrudging about it.

"Hey, Chazz, what's up?" Jaden called.

"Huh?" Chazz looked up, and scowled again. "What do you want, Yuki?"

"Silver suit in Aster's usual size and material" Jaden recited. He'd done this before - Aster often bought from this place, since it was well priced and high quality. "So what's up with you, then?"

"Nothing."

"Come on, you can tell me."

"Nothing!" Chazz growled, and he stuck his head into the back of the shop. "Hey, I need a suit from shelf sixteen, space four. Silver" he called. Then he turned around. "I have things to do, slacker."

Why Chazz called him that, he'd never know. Maybe because he liked an excuse to get out of working at the bakery.

"So do I. I have to see Jesse …"

Chazz froze on the spot and stared at Jaden.

"Jesse Andersen?"

"Yeah."

"You stupid slacker" Chazz hissed. "You can't talk to him. He's shut up for a reason, you idiot!"

"He's not sick!"

"He might be now. He could be sick today, or tomorrow, or two weeks from now. He'll be sick soon enough, just as she is …" Here, Chazz stopped and a tear escaped his eye. He brushed it away furiously.

"You mean Blair?" Jaden asked softly.

Jaden remembered Adrian, the one who'd told him about Mapleside Manor being shut up. He'd not only told Jaden that news, but also that Blair's sweetheart was indeed Chazz Princeton. Adrian had been going to tell Chazz of the news, too.

Chazz glanced up at Jaden angrily, but he nodded.

"Blair and I have been together two years, Jaden" Chazz muttered, for once calling the brunette by his first name. "We were thinking about maybe getting married before all this started, and then we decided to wait until the plague had left … now we'll never see that day. She'll not get out of that house alive."

"Chazz, don't say that!" Jaden said encouragingly. "Blair's probably fine. She's …"

"I saw her yesterday, slacker!" Chazz hissed, turning away. "She's not just shut up, she's actually sick."

This was news to Jaden. News which made his blood run cold.

"Blair's … Blair's got the plague?"

Chazz nodded once, not turning around.

"She's not going to make it. I can tell."

Jaden didn't reply to this. His mouth wouldn't work properly, nothing would, except his legs. He ignored Aster's silver suit and ran out the door and in the direction of Mapleside Manor, knowing his way by heart without having to think about it.

Blair was on the same floor as Jesse. She looked after the other Truesdale child.

If Blair had contracted the sickness, there was every chance that she wasn't the only one. The thought of _him _contracting the plague was enough to make Jaden fly to the house at what he was certain was the speed of light.

"Jesse! Jesse, come on, answer me!" Jaden called worriedly, having arrived a second earlier. "You've got to be okay, Jess, come on!"

The room was in darkness, only the sunlight partially showing the room's features. Jaden pictured Jesse alone in the dark room.

"Come on, you've _got _to be okay!" he shouted. "_Jesse_!"

"I'm coming, Jay" came a voice. Jesse.

Jaden waited impatiently for his friend to come up to the window. Jesse had answered almost immediately, that was a good sign. He'd said he was coming to speak to him, another good sign. The waiting period, not a good sign. But if Jesse was putting the baby to bed or something, that would take him a minute…

Jaden fidgeted while he waited for his bluenette to come to the window. He eventually saw the figure moving slowly - really slowly, so much so that it was hardly natural - towards the window. He recognised the shadowy outline of the person and closed his eyes in relief.

"Jaden …"

The brunette opened his eyes.

He saw his friend clearly.

He gasped.

"Jesse?"

Hazeru - Oh no! What's up with Jesse?

Hera - And is Blair really sick?

Hazeru - Revealed next chapter!

Hera - R&R please


	14. Chapter 13  First Signs Of Heartbreak

Hazeru - Here's another chapter.

Hera - Let's see what's up with Jesse.

Hazeru - Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! GX or At The Sign Of The Sugared Plum

Chapter 13

First Signs Of Heartbreak

Jaden's gasp was the only sound besides his beating heart, which felt like it was literally trying to escape his chest. He whispered his friend's name very softly while staring at the man who was Jesse, and yet at the same time was not Jesse. Jesse was cheerful and presented himself to the world with a smile. He had a positive outlook on life - or at least, the Jesse that Jaden knew did. But this man was different.

Jesse's face was very pale, except for the red spots on either cheek which Jaden assumed was due to a fever. He was sweating and had to lean against the window frame to keep himself standing. He appeared to be in some pain and seemed unwilling to open his eyes. When he eventually did, Jaden knew why - Jesse's beautiful green eyes were dull and clouded over with pain.

"Is that really you, Jess?" the brunette whispered, terrified.

A small nod was his answer. The two stood in silence for a few moments before Jesse smiled down at Jaden, looking almost frightening as his did.

"I've been visited, Jaden" he said, speaking with something that was close to excitement but at the same time was the opposite of that. "It has barely taken a hold on my body yet, and I already feel the pain of a thousand fires."

He slumped weakly against the window frame and closed his eyes. This only brought tears to the brunette's eyes and he fought to not let them fall.

"You've … been … I mean, you've contracted …" he stammered.

"Yeah" Jesse said quietly. "It's left me for a long time, if you think on it. It took most of the others already …"

"Most of them? Who? Jesse, who's dead?" Jaden cried, fear rising in him.

"All but one of the servants downstairs were taken sick - one's healthy for now." He paused and whimpered slightly as a pain shot through his body. He turned away from Jaden and let out a sharp cry of pain, taking a minute or two then to get control back before turning back to his friend. "Two are still alive but sick and the rest are dead. They will soon be all dead."

"What about your master and mistress?" Jaden panicked.

"Dead" Jesse said sadly. "Within an hour of each other. In their bedroom with the gigantic mirrors and tapestries that I would have loved to show you." He grit his teeth for a minute or two and then continued. "Blair looked after Lady Truesdale until the very end, she was that loyal."

"Blair's … she didn't catch the plague, too, did she?"

"She caught it last night and now can't move from her bed" the bluenette said, fighting to keep the tears in his eyes when they were threatening to fall. "And the girl in her care, Louisa, died only a few hours before Blair knew that she was sick."

By now, Jaden was crying openly. So many dead in a house. He hadn't been away so long, and yet people were dying so quickly. The master and mistress, Zane and Alexis Truesdale, gone. Many of the servants, gone. The eldest Truesdale child, gone. And Blair was sick and other servants were sick and Jesse was sick …

"Jesse, what of the baby?" the brunette whispered.

"She is well enough, but she's left in my care, and I don't know if she will have any resistance to the infection. But what can I do? The one healthy servant in the house won't come up to see to her - it's plague or starvation, I at least have to give her a chance to survive. I promised Alexis I would!"

"Calm down, Jess!" Jaden pleaded, seeing the hysteria threatening to envelop his friend.

Jesse then gasped and collapsed, disappearing from view, but Jaden could tell from the agonized moan that he hadn't passed out.

Jaden's heart was beating violently in his chest, and he placed his hand over that spot on his chest, trying to make sure his breaking heart didn't burst through the skin. Why did he have these feelings? Oh, yeah, that's right - his only love was dying right before his eyes and he couldn't do anything about it!

"Jesse … can you hear me?" he called.

"Yes" Jesse called. "Give me … a minute to get …" There was a sharp gasp. "God, it hurts …"

Jesse then reappeared, paler than before but clearly taken by fever. Jaden couldn't see any marks on his friend's body, and fearfully remembered what Jesse had told him weeks before - if a person had only buboes, they may survive, but if they had tokens, they had no chance. Jaden didn't want to know what Jesse was having to endure, but he knew that he couldn't go home that day without knowing if his friend had any chance of survival.

"Jesse, what is it that you have?" the brunette pleaded. "Do you have the tokens?"

There was an intense moment of terrifying silence, and then Jesse shook his head.

"No tokens."

Despite the pain the bluenette obviously felt, Jaden felt relief spread through his body. There was at least still a _chance_, then.

Ten minutes of silence - excluding the occasional sound of pain from the bluenette - passed before Jaden gathered up the courage to talk to his 'friend' about what was really in his heart. He couldn't watch Jesse dying and not tell him.

"Jess …"

"Hmm?"

"This isn't a good time but … I can't not find out, Jesse!" the brunette said, deliberately looking away. "Jess, what are we, exactly?"

"We established this" the bluenette said wearily. "We are what we are."

"But how do you feel, Jesse? About us, I mean."

"Jaden, didn't I already tell you?" Jesse said, his voice softening as he looked down at the crying brunette. "If I get out of here … we'll be together."

"There's no 'if' about it!" Jaden shouted. "Don't say that, don't even _think _it! You're going to get better and come out of that house, Jesse! You have to!"

"Jay, I'll try. You know I will." The bluenette paused and then sighed, deciding there was no point in delaying what he had wanted to say to the brunette for a long time. He might die and he didn't want to go without telling him. "Hey, Jaden?"

"Yeah?"

"You know how I feel about you."

It wasn't a question.

"Jess …" Jaden stammered, his heart beating furiously. Was he going to say it? "I hope I do know, Jesse. Because I'm sure you know how I feel about you."

"As long as we both know it, Jaden, then the feeling is there."

"Hang onto that feeling, Jess. Don't give up, right?"

"I know."

Jaden suddenly smiled.

"Just think how the people of London are going to react when they see two guys holding hands out in the streets. Man, are _we _going to get some stares!"

"Just wait until we show a bit more affection, and then you'll see them stare as if the Devil himself had just popped up" the bluenette grinned, before the pain wiped the smile away. "Jay, I'm so tired. I have to get some rest before the baby wakes up. I have to keep my strength up for her."

"I know. Get some rest, Jesse, please."

"Will you come tomorrow?"

"I promise."

Jaden then started walking away, but before the bluenette disappeared from view, he called the brunette's name.

"This is the best we can do just now, right?" Jesse smirked, and he blew a kiss to Jaden.

Jaden paused for a minute, mentally dancing, and then blew a kiss back to the bluenette.

"I'll be back tomorrow, Jesse. I won't let you down."

Hazeru - Aww, their relationship's getting better all the time.

Hera - But Jesse's sick, he has plague!

Hazeru - And I killed so many peope! Zane, Alexis, Blair. I feel so nasty!

Hera - You are. R&R please!


	15. Chapter 14  Another One Gone

Hazeru - As the title suggests, death is in this chapter.

Hera - But who? Who dies?

Hazeru - Read to find out :) Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! GX or At The Sign Of The Sugared Plum

Chapter 14

Another One Gone

Aster and Jaden's business was growing as they sold cakes and breads which contained herbs said to prevent the plague. Thinking that these foods could stop them catching the plague, many Londoners flocked to buy their goods, and the amount of business helped Aster to improve his mood. Jaden was still downcast, and if he hadn't been so miserable, he would have laughed over how he was suddenly the serious one. But he was in no mood for laughing, and the booming business wasn't a good thing for him. It meant that Aster needed him in the bakery full time, so to Jaden's great shame, he did not visit Mapleside Manor the next day, and it was the evening two days later when he at last persuaded Aster to let him leave the bakery. Aster wasn't happy about it, but even he saw that nothing could stop Jaden from going.

Jaden arrived at Mapleside Manor in the early evening on a hot day, and he looked around for the death cart. He was slightly relieved that he didn't see it near the house, and that the guard was still seated outside. He ran around to the back of the house and called out the bluenette's name, his heart jumping.

There was no answer.

"Jesse!" the brunette called. "It's me, Jess! I came back. Come on, a simple 'hello' would be nice!"

No answer still. Jaden started to feel worry build up inside his heart.

"Jesse? You there?"

"Yes."

The bluenette was there and conscious, much to Jaden's relief, but the brunette couldn't see his friend. He called out and again got no answer.

"Come on, Jess!" he whispered.

As if in answer, the bluenette pulled himself up to the window - and that was when Jaden's heart missed a beat.

Jesse looked awful. He was horribly pale, his eyes had no light in them, his hair was messed up, and his face showed a deep pain. He leant against the window frame, too weak to support himself.

"Jess?" the brunette whispered. "I'm sorry I didn't come yesterday. Aster needed me, and I …"

The bluenette held his hand up to stop his friend from talking.

"No apologies, Jay. I don't want to hear them" the bluenette said, smiling as best he could at his friend. "Don't talk about anything sad. Tell me about something fun."

"Are you okay, Jesse?" Jaden burst out.

"It gets worse every day" Jesse said, his voice cracking. "And the baby cries so badly. I don't know if she's sick or well. And it's just me now. I'm alone in here."

"Just you?"

"The baby's too young to count as anything but someone who needs me" Jesse said, and he tried to stop the tears that were daring to fall. "Blair would have been good company now."

"Would have?" Jaden asked, and he froze. "Jess … don't tell me …"

"She died last night. She screamed for an hour and then one last time, she screamed and it was the most terrible sound I've ever heard. Then she died and the cart came for her. One of the men there said they'd be back for me soon."

"Jesse, don't listen to them! You're gonna be okay!" Jaden said, and then he fell to his knees, causing the bluenette to ask what was wrong. Jaden looked up at his friend with his tear stained face and decided not to hide it any longer. "I love you. You can't die."

There was a moment of silence as the bluenette took it in.

"I love you, too" he whispered.

"Huh?" Jaden gasped.

"You didn't know?" Jesse teased, trying to bring back some of his old spirit. "Another one is gone, Jay, and she was the last. I'm next, and it'll be the baby afterwards, because nobody will there for her. She won't get the sickness, though."

"She won't?"

"She hasn't yet, and she's surrounded by it" Jesse shrugged. "I don't think she'll catch it. I just wish she could get out of here, before I …"

Jaden suddenly realised what his friend was saying.

Not only was Jesse saying all this, he was saying this to _him_, and that somehow seemed special to Jaden. If Jesse died - and Jaden couldn't help but fear that it may happen - then the baby's survival could be his dying wish. Jaden wracked his brains for a few moments, trying to think of how to help. Then he got it.

Aster would not be happy. Oh no. Aster would kill him!

But what did that matter? Aster wouldn't turn him away no matter what. And Jesse wanted the baby to survive. So there was only one thing for it.

Jaden took a deep breath.

"I'll take the baby, Jess."

Hazeru - O.O Jaden's going to take the baby?

Hera - What does that mean? How's he going to get her?

Hazeru - And she may be sick. Jesse sure is!

Hera - And Blair's died, too. R&R please!


	16. Chapter 15  Kidnapping

Hazeru - Here's another chapter.

Hera - This story's near the end now.

Hazeru - Just a few more chapters.

Hera - Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! GX or At The Sign Of The Sugared Plum

Chapter 15

Kidnapping

Jesse starred at the brunette in stunned silence before whispering to him and asking him to repeat what he just said.

Jaden took in a deep breath.

"I said I'll take the baby" he repeated.

"Jaden …"

The bluenette gasped suddenly, falling away from the window with a thud, Jaden calling out his name in shock. If Jesse died now …

"_Jesse_! Come on, I need you to help me here!" the brunette called.

Jesse's pale and shaking frame appeared at the window, and he nodded once to the brunette.

"Are you sure? Your cousin …"

"Will just have to put up with it" Jaden whispered, so quietly that the bluenette had to ask him to repeat it twice. He then spoke louder. "Jesse, I'll get her out of here. I promise, I'll keep her safe."

"Why would you?" the bluenette asked kindly, soft tears forming in his caring green eyes.

"Because I love you. And you love her. It's all I can do now."

That was explanation enough for both of them.

Within a few moments, the brunette was standing silently in the garden, fidgeting anxiously. He had no idea how he was going to smuggle a baby out of the manor. And what if she had plague? She could be carrying the germs in her clothes or on her skin and then he would catch it and be shut up, bring Aster down with him …

But this was all he could do for Jesse.

Aster would understand. If the worst happened, he would take the beating from his cousin in the afterlife.

After a few more minutes - during which Jaden played endless disastrous scenarios in his head - Jesse appeared at the window with a naked baby in his arms.

"Her clothes?" Jaden asked, puzzled.

"No plague germs can hide in her clothes if she has none" Jesse said quietly.

"Good idea" the brunette whispered, sliding off his red jacket to wrap around the baby.

Jesse grabbed hold of the basket that was attached to the side of the house and led up to the window, through which the family inside got their daily provisions. The guard would send things up via basket, rather than enter the house.

It was a crime to remove anything from a house of plague.

Especially a person who could be ill with it.

Jaden had broke some petty rules before but he'd never committed any serious crime that could result in imprisonment. And yet here he was receiving a hopefully healthy child from a house of plague.

Using the basket and its thin coil of rope, the bluenette carefully lowered the baby to the ground, and when it rested carefully on the grass, Jesse slipped away from the window frame and out of sight.

Jaden called up to him again but he got no response. Jesse must have fallen asleep. Or passed out. Or … No, he didn't want to even think that.

The brunette stared at the child for a moment longer and then knelt down to pick her up warily, holding her away from him. She had who knew what germs on her skin!

But fortune smiled on him just that once, and he saw that the well in the back yard of the manor was in perfect working order and the water was clean. He placed the baby on the grass - the less he had to touch her the better - and got some water. He used it to thoroughly clean his hands and soaked the baby in it, humming softly to her all the while so she wouldn't cry. He was glad it was so hot, otherwise she would have cried at the water's coldness.

Eventually, the brunette stood at the side of Mapleside Manor, holding the half asleep, still wet baby girl wrapped in his red jacket in his arms. He had to sneak around the side of the house and not be seen by the guard, or there would be big trouble.

Carefully, Jaden peeked around the wall, and saw that the guard - a dark skinned man with an abnormally large nose and the look of a soldier about him - sat obliviously at the front of the house. He was obviously so used to seeing Jaden that he didn't think anything of it any more. Jaden had never caused any trouble.

Until he broke the law. Right now, in fact.

Taking a deep breath, Jaden tried to make it look like he was simply walking with his arms folded in front of him, and scurried around the wall and started walking away from the guard.

His heart was pounding hard. If he was caught now, the baby would be taken to a pesthouse, he would be sent to prison, and Jesse would most likely be killed - or just left to die, as seemed probable even to Jaden.

The guard didn't seem to notice that there was a baby in the brunette's arms, or that he walked very fast, or that as soon as he turned a corner he started running in the direction of home.

Jaden's heart was pounding. He'd done it!

Jaden wasn't giving up. He wasn't leaving Jesse now, no way.

He would go back for him once he had safely taken the baby away from the house of plague. He could only hope that she was healthy. If he was responsible for giving the plague to his cousin Aster, he would never forgive himself.

But if he didn't help Jesse by taking the baby, he would never forgive himself.

He was taking a risk either way.

He had to try.

Hazeru - What will Aster think? Is he going to accept that?

Hera - And Jesse might be alive, or he might not be.

Hazeru - Oh by the way, rinsing water over the baby probably wouldn't get rid of the plague germs. It just seemed sensible in a desperate situation to the people who lived in that time.

Hera - And it's something Jaden would do.

Hazeru - There's that.

Hera - Please R&R


	17. Chapter 16  Surprise

Hazeru - Another chapter, sorry it's a little late.

Hera - Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! GX or At The Sign Of The Sugared Plum

Chapter 16

Surprise

Jaden opened the door to the bakery with the sleeping child secure in his arms. She was surprisingly heavy for being so tiny, but she was perfectly formed, as adorable as the first time Jaden saw her despite having been locked up in a house of death.

Aster came out from the back room of the shop, already asking how Jesse was doing, but stopped short when he saw the bundle in Jaden's arms.

"Jaden, what the hell is that?" he asked.

"Aster, listen."

"What's going on?"

"Just listen" the brunette begged, his cousin nodding and indicating that he was to present his case. "Aster, Jesse's … he's dying!"

Tears formed in the corners of the brunette's eyes, but he blinked furiously to stop them from falling.

"The baby's just fine, perfectly healthy, but she'll die if she's left in that house on her own and …"

"Jaden Yuki" Aster whispered. "You didn't take a child from a house of plague?"

"Her name is Vicky" Jaden whispered.

He moved the jacket out of the way so that Aster could see the features of the sleeping baby. He hissed and turned away from his cousin, who held the baby tightly.

"Take her back."

"No."

"Jaden, so help me …"

"It's already done, Aster!" Jaden snapped.

"She could be carrying the plague!" Aster insisted.

"Then I'll have already caught it from carrying her here!" the brunette argued. "We have to take care of her, Aster."

Jaden had a fair point. If he was going to get plague from the baby, it had already happened. The germs, if they were on the baby's skin, would already have got into Jaden's system. But Aster wasn't quitting there.

"Take care of her for how long, Jaden?" he asked in an annoyed, scared voice. "You're not adopting a kid, no way!"

"I …"

Jaden didn't know what to say to his cousin. Just what _did _he intend to do with the baby?

He wasn't going to be able to look after her himself, and besides, if she was going to be cared for by another family it had to be a rich and titled one. She was a Truesdale child, a wealthy and titled family's offspring.

Damn it, he hadn't thought this through!

But it was all he could do for the bluenette. Vicky had to survive, because her survival was all he could do for Jesse.

"I'll think of something" he whispered, more to himself than his cousin.

Aster growled and turned around, made his hand into a fist and ferociously hit the wall, making a loud noise as the wall crumbled a little. The baby started wailing, and Jaden immediately set about calming her, as he'd seen Jesse do. It worked after a few minutes and Aster turned around.

"Okay. I obviously can't make you listen to reason, and I can't turn you away" Aster said in an angry voice. "But this is your responsibility, Jaden!"

"I know."

"Okay then."

Aster wasn't happy about it. But what could he do, really? He wasn't going to turn away his cousin and a defenceless orphan.

"To think I had the best surprise for you and everything" Aster muttered.

Jaden looked at his cousin, puzzled. A surprise?

"What's up, Aster?" the brunette asked.

"Jaden, it's taken weeks, but we've finally got them. I've done it!" Aster grinned proudly. "I got us both Certificates Of Health. We can get out of London!"

Jaden was frozen for a few moments. Get out of the corpse infested city?

"What about the baby?" the brunette asked eventually.

"Well, didn't you say that her mother was originally planning to say she was newborn and take her out that way?"

"Yeah" Jaden nodded, remembering Jesse telling him that.

"We'll say the same" Aster said thoughtfully. "We'll say that she's only a week old, and her mother died of childbed fever two days after the birth. We can say it was my wife that died."

"We're going to pass her off as your baby?" Jaden asked, shocked.

"Of course we are" Aster nodded, starting to pack things in a bag. "She has to be the child of one of us or the guards won't buy it. And you don't look old enough to have your own."

Jaden nodded, slightly irritated by that last comment.

"When are we going?" the brunette asked.

"As soon as possible" Aster said. "As soon as we're packed. Today."

The brunette's heart skipped a beat.

They were leaving that day?

What about Jesse?

He couldn't leave the bluenette. And yet, if he didn't, he might be condemning the baby to a terrible fate, and that was the last thing Jesse would want.

Jaden let himself cry a little then.

What was he going to do?

Hazeru - Poor Jaden, he doesn't know what to do.

Hera - Find out what'll happen next chapter.

Hazeru - Only another two or three to go.

Hera - R&R please


	18. Chapter 17  Goodbye

Hazeru - Now we find out what's going to happen.

Hera - Enjoy.

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! GX or At The Sign Of The Sugared Plum

Chapter 17

Goodbye

The brunette made his way, deliberately slowly, to Mapleside Manor for the second time that day.

He was dragging his feet along the dirty ground and glaring at everything and everyone he passed. He didn't want to do this.

Jaden was going to leave London. He had to.

Aster was making him, he had to save the baby, he might die if he didn't.

And yet, underneath all those motives to leave, was guilt. Deep and hurtful guilt.

Because he was leaving the one he loved.

It was a sad sight when he at last reached Mapleside Manor and ducked into the back yard, the guard looking mildly surprised that he was back so soon.

The bluenette wasn't at the window.

"Jesse, I need to tell you something!" Jaden called. "Jess, please! It really can't wait. You have to listen to me! _Jesse_!"

After an hour of calling unsuccessfully, tears were running down Jaden's cheeks, but he wasn't giving up.

Jaden had to leave to make sure the baby was kept safe. That was all he could really do for the sick bluenette. That meant he had to go now, goodbye or no goodbye.

There was no way he could say goodbye to Jesse in person. But there was one thing he could do, for certain.

Jaden handed the piece of paper with the almost neat handwriting to the guard in front of the house. The guard had asked him his name, and when he had sadly told him and, out of habit, asked the guard's name, he learned it was Axel. _Strange name_, he thought. But Axel seemed to be okay with the idea of handing the note into Jesse the next time he sent up the provisions.

Axel wouldn't let him down. Jaden could only hope for that.

The guard wouldn't know the names of anyone in the house so he had called the baby by her name, knowing that the guard wouldn't know who it was and that Jesse would understand.

Jaden stole one last glance at the house and then called loudly, knowing that everyone would hear and not caring.

"I love you, Jesse!" he shouted, hoping the bluenette might hear, and then he took of running before anyone could say anything to him.

Once the brunette was gone, Axel looked down at the note in his hand.

_Dear Jesse,_

_I hope that you can forgive me. We have Certificates Of Health, and we're leaving. Aster, me and Vicky are going to our home in Chertsey today. _

_Jesse, I hope that you can recover and come and see us. At the top of the letter I have written my exact address and the house's name. I can only hope that one day I will see you there. I'll be waiting for you._

_I wish I could have said goodbye to you properly but there is no time. I hope you get this letter, and I hope you understand. _

_I will keep her safe. I promise._

_I love you, Jesse. Forever and ever._

_I'll be waiting in Chertsey for you._

_Love, Jaden Yuki. _

Axel was a little stunned. Jaden seemed childish and innocent and, to be honest, a little strange. Yet he wrote with passion. And for another man!

But he obviously had strong feelings. That much was evident.

And as Axel went to the back of the house to send the letter up to the person it was intended for, should he still be alive, a cart was moving out of the city gates, taking Aster, Jaden and baby Vicky to safety.

Hazeru - Jaden's gone but he couldn't see Jesse one last time.

Hera - He isn't even sure that Jesse's alive, but at least there's a letter for him.

Hazeru - I hate to tell you all this but this is the 'last' chapter of this fic.

Hera - But there is an epilogue!

Hazeru - Let us know if you want said epilogue in your reviews!

Hera - It will explain what happens.

Hazeru - Only if you want that.

Hera - R&R please. Let us know if you want that epilogue!


	19. Epilogue

Hazeru - Here's the epilogue guys!

Hera - You asked for it, so here it is!

Hazeru - Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! GX or At The Sign Of The Sugared Plum

Epilogue

The Beginning

The short bluenette bore some resemblance to the baby in his arms. His grey eyes were a different colour but the same shape, and his aqua hair colour was there in the tips of the baby's spiked hair.

Jaden stood close by Syrus Truesdale, who he had found a week beforehand. He had sent word that he had the man's niece and had brought her to him. Syrus had given Jaden had a large sum of money as a reward.

Baby Vicky had no family other than Syrus, apart from Atticus Rhodes - and Jaden had no idea who he was or where he might find him, so he simply told Syrus and the bluenette promised he'd get word to the other uncle.

Syrus offered Jaden a ride home in his fancy carriage but Jaden declined, saying he wanted to walk and clear his head. The shorter boy thanked him again for the safe arrival of his healthy niece. Then the now only Truesdale brother was gone with the baby, back to their large country mansion, where the baby would be cared for by her family.

Jaden began his walk back to his home in the centre of Chertsey, his hands in the pockets of the red jacket he had bought from Chazz Princeton's tailor shop. He vaguely wondered if Chazz was still alive, and hoped that one day he might see him again - not that the youngest Princeton would want that visit.

Jaden and Aster had been living in Jaden's parents' home for the past three months, caring for the orphan baby Vicky between them - what a shock the family had got when their son and nephew arrived carrying a baby! Aster had managed to finally locate Syrus Truesdale, and after sending word of the baby in their care, they had arranged for Jaden to take the child to meet with her uncle.

There was news now of slight declining numbers of plague deaths in London and thankfully it hadn't spread very far out of the city, only nearby small villages being afflicted along with London.

Sometimes Jaden wondered about his friends and neighbours left in the city. Bastian and Hasselberry had died early on in the sickness, but Jim had been healthy when he and Aster had left. Jim and his wife and two daughters may be alive. Jaden wondered if someday he might see that friendly, half-bandaged face again.

Of course, none of those friends of his were thought about first thing in the morning and last thing at night, like Jaden's secret love was.

Jaden arrived home not long later. Aster was the only one in the small home and he grinned merrily at his cousin who smiled gently back at him. Aster was baking bread for the family, since he was the best at it, and Jaden didn't want to bother him.

The brunette slipped into his own bedchamber that he shared with nobody but the old family cat. He closed the door and then slipped out from underneath his rough pillow the piece of paper that he cherished so much.

The paper was slightly torn and yellowed now, its ink smudged in a few places - but it was legible, and that was all that mattered. Not really any more, even, because Jaden Yuki had memorised the words.

The day after Aster had finally tracked down Syrus Truesdale, a letter had come into the house. It was rare for folk in Chertsey to get letters, so it caused some excitement in the household, especially when they saw it came from London. Letters were rarely accepted from London because of the plague, but as the numbers were beginning to fall some letters were being allowed through. Nobody was sure how he got this letter through but Jaden was wholeheartedly glad that he did.

Despite the fact that he knew it by heart, Jaden read the letter again.

_Jaden,_

_I hope this letter reaches you because at the moment I can't. I'm trying to get by in another job and it's hard, because I'm not as strong as I used to be. _

_I would have wrote to you sooner but I was at death's door for six weeks and couldn't write, and then when I recovered I had to find a place to live. Mapleside Manor is being sold, can you imagine! I have found a place. though, and a new job._

_I wish I could be with you. I want that more than anything._

_Jaden, I survived the sickness. You may not believe it's true - I thought I was going to die myself - but I am alive and mending. _

_Thank you for saving Vicky's life. I can't thank you enough. I hope that she made it._

_I trust that you are in good health and I pray that your feelings for me haven't changed. I wish I had said goodbye properly but I had fallen unconscious and awoke to find your letter. I still have it. _

_I will soon come to Chertsey, or meet with you when you return to London - if you choose to - as the numbers are going down and the authorities predict that soon it'll be a safe city again. The cold weather coming will kill off the plague, we're sure._

_Jaden, my love, I can't wait to see you again._

_No matter when that is, or how long I have to wait, know that I love you._

_Love, Jesse Andersen._

Jaden folded the letter once again, tears flowing gently down his cheeks and onto his smiling lips, tasting of salt.

The letter from his love had arrived not long ago and it had lifted a weight from his heart that he hadn't known was weighing him down.

Jesse was alive. Jesse loved him.

That was all Jaden needed.

Jaden knew that he would return to London, and to Jesse, and until then he would lie in bed at night and dream of his sweet reunion, and that first kiss that he longed to share with his bluenette love.

Hazeru - And that's it. Thanks for reading Sickness And Love.

Hera - The book this is based on, At The Sign Of The Sugared Plum, actually has a sequel.

Hazeru - I might do a sequel to this where they meet up again, but only if people ask for it.

Hera - Anyway, thanks again for reading.

Hazeru - And let us know if you want a continuation.

Hera - R&R please


End file.
